US Inside line
Customer service –
time for a reboot?
Stephanie Selesnick says the current Covid-19 crisis provides the
perfect opportunity to rethink how you offer customer service
hen was the last time
you experienced
outstanding customer
service? The kind that
made you stop and say, ‘WOW, that
was amazing!’
You couldn’t wait to share with
friends, family, colleagues, and
even strangers how wonderful the
experience was. You gave glowing
reviews and ‘5 out of 5’ scores
everywhere you could possibly post.
Now think about the opposite type
of customer experience. The kind
where you’re on interminable hold
(with bad music or droning ads),
voicemail hell and after about an
hour get a company representative
on the line who has a poor attitude,
provides no information, and won’t
help work out a solution to your
problem. Said representative insists
it’s your fault, you signed a contract
(or bought an item or service), and
that it is ‘company policy’. Being
undervalued is upsetting.
Unfortunately, exceptional
customer service experience is
an area the exhibition business is
lacking. In fact, according to the
latest UFI/Explori Exhibitor Insights
study, exhibitors give us a -17 NPS
Score – equal to banks!
Once sold, the only subsequent
contact many exhibitors have with
show management is receiving
generic emails containing
sponsorship sales materials and
show rules with links to the exhibitor
manual. Some other examples of bad
customer service include:
• Charging exhibitors for an extra
worker badge over the allotment
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
with no exceptions.
• Your financial team being
intractable, rather than flexible,
towards small business owners who
may require a little flexibility with
the payment schedule (not prices!).
• The international attendee looking
for recommendations on restaurants
or shopping in your show’s city
being told to look at an ‘international
visitor page’ that consists solely of
visa support letter information.
Current exhibition postponements
and cancellations present unique
opportunities to reboot your
customer service. Why not throw
out the ‘rules and regulations book’
and tangibly improve the ways your
team interacts with paying clients?
Here are some suggestions for
amazing customer service:
1. Emphasise within your
organisation that the exhibitors and
visitors are not the enemy. An ‘us
versus them’ attitude is not helpful.
Right:
Stephanie
Selesnick
Your clients are the people who
allow you to put a roof over your
family’s heads, provide food on
the table as well as have fabulous
holidays! Treat clients with respect
and gratitude.
2. Focus on helping your
customer service team move from
providing transactional answers to
a relationship-based consultative
approach. With new exhibitors,
encourage your representatives
to make appointments, pick up
the phone and call to review the
exhibitor manual.
a. Remember it costs a lot more to
bring in a new client than retain an
old one.
b. Small and medium sized
companies are where your show’s
growth will come from.
c. Phones these days may be used
for more than texting, email and
social media posting. They may
also be used to speaking to another
person. Strange, but true.
3. End communications with
clients with a genuine ‘Thank you
for your business’, or ‘We appreciate
your business’. Seems simple enough
– but when was the last time anyone
in your organization did so?
Take the time now to figure out
how your organisation may surprise
and delight clients more, and let
transactional
rule
enforcement
take a back
seat. Bring the
‘service’ back
to customer
service.
Issue 2 2020
37