As we improve our service to better suit your needs and desires, and in discussing customer service with industry partners, this question keeps coming up. Since there isn’t an easy answer, we’d like to get your opinion on the matter because, really, it’s your opinion that matters!
Everyone has their own unique definition of what good customer service means.
Depending on the product or service, some people would like to be contacted within 24 hours after inquiring how the company can help them. Others may consider a week an acceptable time frame for a response because they expect any company worth contacting will be busy.
Of course, this all varies depending on different factors such as the immediacy of the customer’s needs and how big the customer believes the company is to accommodate inquiries.
Then there’s the question of how many times a company should follow up with someone who’s expressed an interest in what they offer.
Everyone has their own unique decision process and it usually consists of time, amount and quality of information and/or feelings developed about the company and its employees.
What does a company do to account for all the different preferences of their potential clients? Well, the best they can while they follow a basic `sales cycle’ they’ve created specifically for their business.
Sales experts say it takes the average person a minimum of 5-12 `touch points’ (a.k.a. different means of contact) before they trust, respect and understand a company enough to buy from them. As social media is reminding us, business is about building relationships; which we all know doesn’t happen overnight.
For this reason, most companies who really believe they can help their potential customers with their products/services expect to contact their prospects many times until they hear either a “yes” or “no”. Actually, some experts say even when a prospect says, “no,” it’s unwise to end the relationship because people change and so do circumstances.
Ah ha! But here we find ourselves teeter tottering on the edge of the dark territory known as stalking! Stalking has been defined as continuing to make contact once a person says, “no.”
Now once you say, “no thanks” to us, we will not contact you again (except for the very rare occasion where we didn’t receive your `no’ or your file wasn’t updated properly). Although we don’t technically stalk people who contact Weddings By Oceans, there has been the odd instance where we’ve misjudged personal lines and followed up a little too soon or too often for our prospective clients’ comfort.
If we can help it, we’d rather not upset people but for destination weddings, because of different factors like timing and group aspects (guests), it’s especially challenging to determine the “right customer service”. So we’d like to ask you: What does good customer service mean and/or look like to you?
If you have a few moments to help us (and the entire industry!) improve customer service, please answer the above question in the comment section below, contact us directly and/or fill out this handy online survey. We greatly appreciate your time and assistance!
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