Tag Archives: customer satisfaction

A Winning Formula for an Ex-Customer

From danielong | July 23, 2018

In late 2015, the DC sales team was tasked to identify a list of lost and new customers to work on in order to increase the company’s sales turnover. There was one particular customer who used to purchase parts through a channel partner of Phoenix Contact. However, there were no longer any orders from this customer since 2010. After conducting some research on the customer’s business and what they manufacture, the decision was to win back this customer that was lost for more than 5 years. The big question was, “What caused the loss of this customer? Why did this customer go to our competitor and why choose our competitor over Phoenix Contact?”

Due to the confidentiality of the customer and for the ease of writing, let’s call this company “SCIT.”

As SCIT was not upfront with us in the beginning and had reservations to use Phoenix Contact parts, we had to make a few assumptions.
There were a few possible causes why we lost SCIT:

Competitor gave better pricing
Bad service & support from channel partner
PxC product quality was not up to mark

At that time, one of the members of the sales team was tasked to win this customer back and so many persistent sales calls were made. And yes, you have probably guessed, it was all of the above that caused the customer to walk out the door.
Way back when SCIT stopped purchasing Phoenix Contact parts, it was handled by a distributor and they gave poor support, high pricing and abhorrent service to the customer.

So what formula did we undertake to win this customer back?

Find out the reason they chose our competitor

The first step is was to understand why the customer left and chose our competitor over us. There can be many reasons and probing with the right questions will allow us to find out the underlying problem, subsequently devising the appropriate solution/strategy to win the customer back.

Be persistent and genuine

To have the “never-say-die spirit” is another important factor. The customer can be reluctant to provide any information, orders or chances. This is when constant follow-up is necessary to demonstrate to the customer that we are interested in them. And in order to do this, being genuine is the key to unlocking the closed door and allowing them to open up. Customers need to know that we are also genuinely interested and they must know and can feel that we are there to help them achieve their targets and create a win-win situation.

Delivering over and beyond customer’s expectations

Hai Di Lao is a perfect example of a company that goes beyond the call of duty to provide the best customer experience. With the long waits and queue, Hai Di Lao provides free manicure services, free fruits and drinks and comfortable sitting areas while you wait for your turn to dine in. A case in point, there was an instance when a family happened to walk past the shop and the servers offered ice cream to the kids, even though this family was not patronising the shop! That’s what a memorable experience is all about.

Keeping the “wow factor” in customers constantly and consistently will cause SCIT to keep us in their mind not just in times of troubles but they will also give others in the industry good feedback about us and refer others to us. Something as simple as a speedy quotation, or calling them back when we missed their call will make them feel important and give them the assurance they can count on us to fulfil our promises. When good service is provided, customers come back, referrals are introduced and business grows.

Going all out to help customers resolve their problems and providing a solution for their issue will help to keep them as a valued customer. In this case, MOQ was high and leadtime was long, causing the customer to keep lots of stock in order to reduce leadtime. So we provided a solution of lesser MOQ and shorter leadtime with a fair price, helping to resolve their critical problem with high exposure and inventory cost.

Building customer’s confidence in us

Offering a wide range of products and support, along with product knowledge, are vital to build the customer’s level of confidence in us. With the vast range of products we offer in Phoenix Contact, they can procure more than just a certain type of products with us, allowing us to upsell more products to SCIT. Starting with just terminal blocks, circular connectors and markers, we moved on to sell even tools. In the future, as they move towards more projects, we will have opportunities to sell industrial electronic products such as surge arrestors and power supply to them as well.

Having the different product managers who champion their own product range helps to clarify doubts and provides information to SCIT when it is needed. Customer service support and timely delivery from logistics are also contributors in rebuilding the branding and SCIT’s confidence in Phoenix Contact.

Without the whole team in place and working together, recapturing the customer would not have been achievable.

In conclusion, there is no one hard and fast formula to winning back a customer but there are certain values that you need to inculcate to win back your customers. From all these, there is only one vital key and that boils down to building a long term RELATIONSHIP with the customer.

Effective and Responsive

From billylim | July 2, 2018

Understanding customers’ expectations and responding the correct way

We’ve been showing to everyone the technical competency and technological innovation that Phoenix Contact has to offer to current customers and potential customers.

While, we are immensely competent on the technical portion, we need to be similarly competent on understanding the needs and expectations of potential and current users of our products.

To differentiate us from our competitors in the market, not only do we need the correct or suitable products and solutions, we also need to have the right personality to further engage our customers. Once customer satisfaction is achieved and rapport is built during our collaboration, getting the solution to customers is crucial in turning their objectives into reality.

There are 5 equally important steps in making this experience memorable for our customers:

Effective technical and commercial understanding of customer’s expectations.
Competent and quick responses to customer’s questions and inquiries.
Flexibility and fluidity in providing technical details and information.
Effective utilization of product brochures, catalogues, and samples.
Systematic follow-ups and continuous sharing of technical information.

The aforementioned 5 main steps, has been tested and proven as well as experienced by Phoenix Contact’s long list of customers.

You may ask why are we sharing and stating the above. Because such a level of service is what you get, when you approach Phoenix Contact Sales and Technical personnel for your needs on connections.

When you are in need of connectivity, you can be sure that we are the line of professionals, who are duly versatile and competent in solving your connectivity needs.

No matter if it is Combicon Power, Combicon Control, Combicon Compact or Pluscon, we bring the best solutions and the most effective technical competency to your designs and solutions.

Last but not least, the experience of working with Phoenix Contact personnel is consistently warm, friendly and courteous, instead of the cold, reactive response of an automated reply.

A Friend in Need

From kingstonng | May 7, 2018

Season’s Greetings

The date was Friday, 01 Sept 2017 – Hari Raya Haji (A public holiday). 6:45 AM.

The phone rang, and it’s the early morning on a public holiday. I looked at the name on the phone caller display; it’s one of our global key customers! Why on earth would he call me at this timing on a public holiday? I pick up the phone and slide across the mobile phone to answer his call. His name is Lee.

Lee quickly indicated his purpose of calling was that he had an urgent request and was in need of an item from Phoenix Contact that he had forgotten to place an order for in his purchase request. Delivery from his staging area would be on the following Monday, 3pm, in which the forwarder would come and collect the crate to ship overseas. Extremely urgent! He requested a quote from me, following which, he would issue a Purchase Order (PO) on the spot and wanted us to deliver the item to him ASAP.

Let’s put things into perspective. It’s a holiday, very early in the morning; the office is closed for the holiday and the warehouse was not in operation that day. No one was at work. He knew.

I indicated to him that I could give him a quote immediately, in which he could PO us immediately. And our customer service officer could process the order on the following Monday morning and release the item by 2pm on the same day from the warehouse, if there were ex-stock. (Only 1 hour before his delivery window)

I went on to check the stock status and replied him that there were enough Ex-stock for his request. I gave the quote to him and Lee informed us that he would place the order on Monday first thing in the morning via his company buyer. As such, both of us kept in view that this was the most urgent thing and the first thing to do on the morning of the following Monday.

Monday, 04 Sept 2017

I called Lee to confirm that his buyer would release the PO so that we could expedite the process. Just before noon, his buyer released the PO. I instantly informed our Customer Service Officer, Julia, of the urgent request (which I had made known to her prior to the incoming order) asking her to to process it immediately and also to inform the warehouse to release the goods ASAP.

2PM, I received the items on my desk, and tallied it against the order and packing list. As always, there was no room for error.

Raced my car down to the customer’s place (within speed limits, of course) and handed over the goods to Lee by 2:45PM, 15 mins before his forwarder’s timing. Lee checked the goods, signed over the items and put the items into the crate together with other items to be shipped on the spot. As if on cue, almost right after he put the items in, the forwarder arrived to collect the crate.

Trust is not easily earned, and even more difficult to give. As a result of this incident, Lee was elated that we were able to meet his urgent request despite the fact that it was over a public holiday and from then on, we have gained his trust in us. Although we do not encourage last minute affairs (especially on public holidays), I believe that you can put your trust and confidence in us to deliver!