Hi there guys,

I've been working on helping my company improve our customer service experience. I work at TD Canada Trust btw. Normally I will write thank you notes to clients and send them off to them after I have helped them the day before. Now I'm trying to find different ways to display my sincerity.

So my question is for you folks out there that may be in the same position as myself, how do you show appreciation for your clients? (buying gifts don't count). Are there simple strategies that you do to let your client know you care?

Thanks!

 

i think it depends on how many customers you are dealing with.
if there are alot of new faces from day to day (more than 100+ new faces per month) and your old thank-you strategy works, then keep on using it (it if ain't broke, don't fix it).

but if you are dealing with people who always come back (whatever your business involves), then it's different.

put baked cookies and warm milk on a plate with napkins and coffee. that's what i would like.

you might want to make a short servey for your customers to fill out asking how you can improve (in different words).

 

that's what we have been doing at the bank, asking customers how we can improve but for some odd reason they usually say we're doing a good job, yet we still get detractors from the odd customer.

I like the idea of the cookies and coffee though. We have a lot of financial advisors at our branch so I'm not sure where we would place the cookies and coffee to make it feel personable. We could leave it outside in the lobby I guess.

 

I dont know how you interact with clients/customers, but you should always get into a first name basis with them. remember their names, and when they return, you call them by their first name, it makes it that much more personal, and they feel special and appreciated.

One lady was a frequent customer of mine, and also swayed her friends towards me. we were also at a first name basis, and always small talked when I saw her. she was a big coffee fan, and so the next time she came, I bought her a pound of Indonesian Coffee, because I told her that was the one I enjoyed the most. It was a cheap gift, but Im sure it left a good impression!

Another friend of mine is in real estate. He recently sold a house to a couple that complained that they have always wanted to upgrade their old, loud, creaky fridge. So after finishing up the paperwork, my friend brought them to the local Sears and ask them to pick ANY fridge, it will be on him. Surely they picked the most expensive one, and he bought it out on the spot. (Keep in mind by them buying the house through him probably made him $10,000 average).

I know there are very 2 extreme examples, but maybe if you have a consistent client who keeps coming back, talk to them and get them itneracted. Find out their hobbies, and what they like/dislike, and maybe get them a small/cheap BUT meaningful christmas gift. Hell im sure a christmas card for them will also do the trick.

 

If you're dealing with a lot of people on a daily basis, food (especially fresh baked goods) is a great idea - it's comforting to people. As the previous poster pointed out though, if you know certain customers better and want to do something for them, you will definitely impress them by getting something that's unique to them. It's a way of showing that you've really been listening to them. And if you've been listening to the "little" things, then you're probably also listening to the "bigger" (financial) things as well.