5 ways to make your customers happy in the relocation business

The art of customer satisfaction in the relocation business

Customer satisfaction is the aim of every company, isn’t it? If customers are delighted with what you do, they buy more business, they tell their friends, the money comes in, the company thrives… Ultimately, happy customers = happy you.

But there’s more to it than you might think. In particular, we believe there are five aspects of customer happiness…

1. Service-happy

The most important way to keep your customers happy? Deliver what they want. 

Sounds simple, but we are in the business of keeping promises. When a customer buys from you, they expect certain levels of service. It’s your job not only to deliver whenever possible but also to manage expectations. 

• Don’t over-promise 
  Why say the documents will be sent over by Monday if you know it’s probably going to be Tuesday?
• Establish a sensible frequency of contact
  Not so often that you’re pestering them, but enough to let them know you’re there for them.
• Always be on the ball
  Make sure you’re up to speed with their projects and can answer questions.
• Know your financials 
  Money isn’t a dirty word and being accurate and transparent with costs is important to all customers. 

Of course, it’s not all down to you. There are expectations of the relocation services your company offers that may be outside your control. And if they slip, the way you deal with your customers becomes more important still (see Point 5 below).

2. People-happy

People like to work with people they like. It’s as simple as that. Being a pleasant person to work with (or just being you, really) can go a long way to keeping a client happy. 

The advice to keeping customers happy can’t really be found in a management book or marketing course. It’s the more the kind of thing your mum always told you as a child:

• Be nice (how’s the family?)
• Be honest (and don’t blame others)
• Don’t be cheeky to those senior to you (i.e. every customer)
• Work hard (people like hard workers)
• Always do your best

Sometimes the chemistry is there, sometimes it isn’t – and there isn’t much you can do about it if not…

3. Info-happy

Customers have product needs – but they also have information needs. The whole content marketing boom is based on the fact that customers expect their suppliers to meet their information needs too. 

But it’s not all about blog posts and ‘Top Ten Tips’ articles. 

To keep a customer ‘info-happy’ means ensuring they get the information they need when they need it, whether it’s directly from you or made available on your website. This could include: 

• Service descriptions (detailing exactly what they can expect from you)
• Contact information for key people
• Pricing information
• Legal details
• Checklists & informative content

And don’t forget that information goes both ways. Ask what they think. Ask about their company, their industry. If they know you’re interested, they’re more likely to want to work with you.

4. Number-happy

How can you make a client happy with numbers? The point is that customer satisfaction can itself be a number. If you are serious about providing it, you have to be able to measure it – otherwise, how can you know if you’re achieving it?

The easiest way of measuring how happy your customers are is to ask them directly. This should be done periodically using the same key metrics (which means you will know whether or not you are improving). Questions (on a scale of 1-10) might include:

• How do you rate quality of service?
• How do you rate quality of product?
• How would you describe the value provided compared to other providers?
• Etc.

And of course, the acid test, commonly known as the Net Promoter Score (NPS): “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend us to someone else?” Customers who give you 6 or below are called detractors, whereas those giving you 9 or 10 are called promoters (the rest are “passives”). 

Your NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. It’s that simple and is widely known as the best single measurement of customer satisfaction.

5. Unhappy-happy

Things don’t always go to plan. Mistakes happen. And this is a critical time to pull out all the customer satisfaction stops. 

It boils down to three points: responsiveness, transparency, humility. 

• Responsiveness
  Act quickly and find out what went wrong and how to solve it. With every hour that passes, the customer is slipping away from you. Don’t put it off.
• Transparency
  Be as honest as you can with your customer and tell them what happened. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone (always better than hiding behind emails). 
• Humility
  You messed up, and you should be big enough to admit it. The customer you’re talking to has also made mistakes. Say sorry and mean it.

Happiness is subjective

Different clients work in different ways, and part of customer service is to understand what different customers expect. It will not always be the same. But if you can tick the five boxes above, there’s an excellent chance they will be coming back for more.