Ever since meeting him, and using his tool, I could see that I had crossed paths with quality. Not only is this outreach tool a quality application, but the team behind the tool is quality, as well.
What am I talking about here?
I am referring to David Schneider, one of the co-founders of the tool, Ninja Outreach. He was our guest on the #SocialCafe event, along with me and with Con Sweeney. Watch the panel discussion, below, and see for yourself.
It makes sense that such a quality guy and quality team would create such a quality tool. Are you catching a theme here? Let’s talk a little bit about the importance of quality. We have certainly used the word enough, so far, in this article.
Engaging with the Customer and Customer Service
In this case, we are talking about quality customer service, as well as a continuous process of improving consumer engagement. Fortunately, a tool like Ninja Outreach helps to make that possible.
Let’s step back and ask ourselves why it is so important to have quality customer service. Does it really matter? I mean, shouldn’t we just try our best and then let the chips fall where they fall (hoping for the best)?
No, not according to the study and statistics put together by KissMetrics, in the following infographic.
What Do the Statistics Say?
++ Click Image to Enlarge ++
Source: Why do Companies with Great Customer Service Succeed?
Some interesting statistics emerge from this study/infographic. For example, 50% of the consumers surveyed expect that a company can respond to them within a day. About a quarter of the people who have complaints post their complaints about the company on social media sites. Unfortunately, 79% of the complaints go unheeded by the “offending” company.
So, we have some disgruntled clients and consumers. They are definitely engaging (if only in the form of complaints), but they are not getting the satisfaction that they desire. Based on the 79% of unheeded complaints, it appears as if the companies are generally moving on and letting the complaint and complainer fall by the wayside as a lost cause. That may be their prerogative, but look at the stats on retention costs versus new clients. It takes 6-7 times the financial burden to get that new client, then retaining the one who is complaining. The total cost, in the U.S., for “bad customer service,” was $238 billion.
What are all of the numbers telling us? It appears that we, as companies (big or small), are not paying enough attention to our existing clients and that there appears to be a thought that we can just go out and get another client to replace the complaining one, even though it costs 6-7 times more. How about this for a novel idea… What if we put some effort into improving our customer engagement, our outreach efforts, so that we build the right foundation from the start and prepare ourselves for retention?
Ninja Outreach
Ok, Ninja Outreach is definitely a helpful tool for outreach, for finding the new clients, but it also helps us to build a framework. By “doing it right” the first time, we build the structure that is needed to have the customer retention process built-into the overall structure of the company.
Let’s take a moment and dive in and look at what David Schneider says about the tool. David is an excellent author, himself, and provides some tutorials on various topics. Quite frankly, David knows how to create those attention-grabbing headlines, but more than that, he delivers! Here are a couple of those articles:
- How To Use Ninja Outreach To Get Product Reviews, Guest Posts, Sponsored Posts, And Giveaways
- Four Blogger Outreach Tips That Guarantee Success
- The Ultimate Guide To Using Triberr For Traffic
And, continuing the discussion with another article about Ninja Outreach:
It is pretty clear to see that we are talking about content marketing and outreach efforts. The Ninja Outreach tool is built for that, helping you to do the research (who to contact), make the connection (what to say), and follow-up, creating a complete cycle of process for your influencer marketing.
The Flip-Side of Ninja Outreach: Practicing Successful Skills
So, what does this have to do with customer service? It has to do with consumer engagement. Let’s step back a moment and talk about mastery.
A man by the name of Malcolm Gladwell, author of “Outliers,” said that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. It is called the “10,000 hour rule.” Let’s think about that in the context of the statistics, above, about 79% of the people being ignored when they have a complaint. If it is truly a case of the individuals being ignored, is it safe to say that no one is practicing any sort of 10,000 hours of customer service? Is there a likelihood that 0 hours are being spent in the cases where the customers were 100% ignored?
Let’s flip this one over and pretend that we want to master the skill of obtaining new clients (i.e. via outreach). Let’s say that we use a tool like Ninja Outreach to practice the process of 1) identifying; 2) contacting; 3) following-up/closing. The more that we go through this process (involving actual skill and the use of the tool), the more hours we contribute to the “10,000 hours,” whether we are counting them or not.
The numbers support the idea that we will successfully close the deal on some of the people and they will become advocates, reviewers, testimonials, or even paying clients. What else are we learning at the same time? We are learning how to work with people, using a tool successfully, and, uh, success!
That means that the next time you have a client who may be complaining, you have the skill set, through the time that you have spent in this process, to actually address the client’s needs. You can be a part of that 21% (resolution) instead of a part of the 79% (ignored).
Pulling It Together
Ok, I admit. We went in a couple of different directions here. So, let’s simplify it. As a business owner, or as a person working for a business, you want to grow the company, right? Let’s look at processes that help to propel you forward. That includes helpful tools. Ninja Outreach is not necessarily the only tool out there, but we have used it as an example for these purposes. The key is that you are building the skills necessary to 1) attract new clients; and 2) retain new clients. You are using the tools available to you (like Ninja Outreach) and you are developing the skills and headed toward that 10,000-hour mark where you are a master at attracting and retaining. Are you ready to master that skill set and succeed in life?
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Wow, learnt a lot about Ninja Outreach, this is amazing, definitely going to let other people know about this! Thank you!!
Raymond would love you to read ..Motivational Blindness: What it is, and How to Avoid it
I learned much from this post about outreach. That’s a informative post and much helpful for me.
Hey Deborah – thanks very much for mentioning us here! We do put a lot of work into customer service. We have a live chat in the app, we do onboarding calls with anyone who asks, and we have a robust email series. It is a lot of work for a product that starts at only $29 / month but we feel it is the right thing to do to properly engage the users.
Cheers
Dave
I have just gone through Ninja Outreach. Looks good. Will share the same to my colleagues and friends.
I hope that managers of big companies into my country could just see that great infography and learn how they are hurting thier compnies when the ignore a unsatisfied tweet, post or status. This a perfect demonstration of the impact of social media brands.
Fahim would love you to read ..ABOUT US