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October 2009 Construction Equipment Distribution www.cedmag.com 55 Customer Service Fred Reichheld, the concept of a net promoter score is essentially to find those customers who are evangelists for your business. They are promot-ers. Based on a 10-point scale, when these clients are asked how likely they are to recommend your company to a friend or colleague, they answer nine or 10, with 10 being the most likely to recommend. If those survey results show that you don't have a lot of promoters and that you're not consis-tently creating the ideal experience, your third step is a training program that arms every employee with the tools to get better. Start by making sure your team knows exactly what a great experience feels like. Don't be vague or conceptu-al. Every single employee must under-stand and accept his or her role in the experience and the specific behaviors needed to always meet and exceed client expectations. You are working to build a culture and that culture does not happen by accident. It requires a determined leadership, comprehensive training and reinforcement. Regularly hold fun, interactive train-ing events that stress participation and practice. Create a learning environ-ment that encourages participants to be open and identifies obstacles to their success. If employees suggest changes to procedures that will help delight customers, have the courage to implement those changes. Most important, remember that training is a journey, not a destination. Support skill development by measuring performance with ongoing mystery shopping and surveys. Use those results to coach for improvement and recognize success. Don't compromise when it comes to providing excep-tional service that will build loyalty. Because today's customers are more informed and more volatile, it's much easier to get more from your loyal customers through upselling and cross-selling. It's this loyalty  created through legendary experi-ences  that will have a huge impact on your company's bottom line. In fact, a survey from Harvard Business Review reports that 97 percent of all customers who report being loyal to a company do not leave. If you want to stay ahead of your competition, start improving your company's customer experience today. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to look at new cars! n barry hImmel is a senior vice president for Signature Worldwide, a Dublin, Ohio-based company offering sales and customer service training, marketing and mystery shopping services for the equipment industry. For more information, call (800) 398-0518 or visit .www.signatureworldwide.com ( How to Keep Customers For Life continued from page 41) BOKF Equipment Finance Inc. . . . . 31 CJJ, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 CyberForms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 DIS Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 e-Emphasys Technologies, Inc. . . . . 2 EPG Insurance, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 EquipmentWatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Geith Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC Lawson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC Liugong Construction Machinery N.A. LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-29 Lowe Manufacturing Co., Inc. . . . . 23 Miller Electric Mfg. Co. . . . . . . . . . 34 PFW Systems Corporation . . . . . . . . 1 Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers . . . . . . . . . 4 SANY Heavy Industry Co., LTD . . . IFC Sentry Insurance Company . . . . . . . 6 Summit Truck Equipment . . . . . . . 41 Tectura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Trackcert, an EPG Company . . . . . . 22 Translectric Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Unique Business Systems . . . . . . . . 35 Vaculift, Inc. dba Vacuworx International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Wells Fargo Construction . . . . . . . 11 As the official magazine of Associated Equipment Distributors, this publication carries authoritative notices and articles in regard to the activities of the association. In all other respects, the association cannot be responsible for the contents thereof or the opinions of contributors. Copyright  2009 by Associated Equipment Distributors. Construction Equipment Distribution (ISSN0010-6755) is published monthly as the official journal of Associated Equipment Distributors. Subscription rate $39 per year for members; $79 per year for non-members. Office of publication: 615 W. 22nd St., Oak Brook, Ill. Phone: 630-574-0650. Periodicals postage at Hinsdale, Ill. 60521 and other post offices. Additional entry, Pontiac, Ill. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Construction Equipment Distribution, 615 W. 22nd St., Oak Brook, Ill. 60523 AdvERtISERS' IndEx