Highlights from the “2010 Customer Experience Impact Report” include:

• 85% of respondents would be willing to pay up to 25% more to ensure a superior customer experience.
• 55% became a customer of a company because of its reputation for great customer service.
• 66% of respondents cited customer service as the biggest driver for encouraging greater spending.
• 82% of respondents have stopped doing business with an organization due to poor customer service.
• 79% have told others about a negative experience.
• 66% wanted to discourage others from doing business with that organization.

Businesses have to make customer service a priority. In this economy when people are selective about how they spend their money, they certainly won’t hand their hard-earned dollars over to a business that doesn’t value them and appreciate their spending.

In years past we might have just complained about poor service to family members or neighbors. Today we tell our Facebook friends, our Twitter followers and our blog readers. Our reach is tremendous. But social media is one more way to resolve customer issues.

In fact, according to the report, 58% of respondents expect a response to a comment on a social networking site. And while 42% expect a response within one day, only 22% actually got one.

It’s proof you need to be where your customer are and you need to be paying attention to what they are saying and in no way, ignoring comments – even the negative ones.

Are you surprised by the results of this survey? How does your business address customer service?

So when you simply have to grin and bear it, how do you handle a difficult client?

• Answer questions before they’re asked. Do your best to anticipate your client’s needs and questions and be ready with answer. Provide monthly or quarterly reports that outline your progress and highlight the next steps.
• Pick an appropriate company representative. Some people are just going to butt heads. Find someone in your firm who can calmly deal with the client and isn’t easily rattled or angered.
• Show your appreciation. Even though a client may be difficult and irritating, this person or business is still a client who is paying you to do a job. Offer to take your customer to lunch or dinner; send a gift basket for no reason; or drop off some Starbucks gift cards. You just might find the old saying “killing them with kindness” rings true.
• Keep it to yourself. You may be tempted to vent about the latest annoying thing client X has said or done. You may see this as harmless venting but it’s not setting a good example for your employees. It’s fine to recognize the challenges of dealing with this customer, but use the situation to find ways to handle the customer and keep the peace.

Have you ever dealt with a difficult client? Were you able to make it work? What techniques did you use?

We all have a customer service story, in fact, usually several stories both positive and negative. In the past, we shared our stories – in particular the negative ones – with our friends, family and co-workers. It was truly a small circle. Today, we can share our experience with millions and we can do it immediately.

With that in mind, businesses should be even more conscious of how they take care of their customers, responding to concerns, complaints, questions and praise. Businesses need to be constantly monitoring what their customers are saying – both online and off. If they aren’t paying attention, they can’t respond quickly and in this day of constant communication, a delay of 24 hours can cause serious damage to a business’ reputation.

Aside from addressing customer complaints immediately, what are other key components of top-notch customer service? Share your best tips and we’ll address them in upcoming blog posts.