How are your customer relations?

[BlackStorm]

How do you think your customer relations are between you and your customers?

Do you think your customers are loyal to your company?

Do you think you have a good relationship between your customers?

Do you do things throughout the year to improve your customer relations, to be more in touch with what your customers want and need from your company.

Are you in direct contact with most of your customers or do other staff deal with most support, sales and billing?

Do you talk in real time to your customers, either on the phone or live chat?

For me, I have very good customer relations I think.
I try remember all customers by their first name, although sometimes I do have to look it up
I do talk with quite a few in realtime but not all.
I have had phone calls from a number of people and I also phone, but with most people being in the US and me in Ireland, it can be a problem sometimes.

I would say most of my customers are very loyal to my company and would stick with me through problems but I know a few expect absolutly no downtime and 1 minute reply to support tickets hehe.

Every now and again I do something to increase the confidence my customers have with hosting with me and it normally works out pretty well.

 

[Freckled]

Wow lot of stuff to think about on this one John. :lol:
I would have to say I do well considering most of my customers knew me before I became a web host so with that in mind I believe they would be pretty loyal as long as I continue to offer great service, support and pricing. I tend to think my reseller customers would be most loyal and they know that when they reach the point of needing their own dedicated server I will be there helping them each step of the way.
I also do most of my current support via IM though some prefer e-mail and I enjoy those customers too as it gives me that extra couple minutes to reply back with very thorough information instead of a bunch of short sentences. I am getting new sign ups used to the support ticket system and e-mail support as my days are getting pretty long on IM.
I have found that the customers that didn't know me previously tend to ask for support less so I am always sending out little quips on my cpanel news making sure that they know we are there and they can contact us anytime type of thing. I have found that little section to be a valuable area to hosting. I used to think they never read it and so one day I offered current customers a month free if they contacted me and said they saw the information there, well I will tell you they do read it, so I use it a lot for announcements, promote new add-ons etc. Never had to offer phone support as our connections here are ok but it is very expensive.
I do try to contact at least once every month or two those that I never hear from and just say hello and ask them if there are any new things they have heard about that they would like to see us offer to make their service with us better and usually it is a no I am fine type answer so I try not to bug the more advanced hostee, just let them know that we are here.
I feel many people once they are mature and work for their money will settle in with one host and be very happy there where as the younger crowd and those with less money will be less loyal and jump around from host to host either for more space for the buck or less $ out of pocket. That doesn't mean they won't run back though if that new host isn't doing a good job.

 

[imported_Stephen]

Hello!
I do try to work on my customer relations because this keeps my customers happy as I am asking them what they want every now and again and making sure I am giving them a good service, plus it gives me the reassurance that all my customers are happy with how everything is going for them with me.

I think they are very loyal because I do take time to ask them if there is anything I can do to improve what they are getting, like you freckled.

I do have contact with my customers a lot, I phone my customers to confirm a lot of orders and I also provide phone support so I also talk with them on a one-on-one basis.

I also have some friends hosted but they don’t make up much of my customer base.
I think when hosting friends it does cause a lot more work as they expect the host to do EVERYTHING for them.
I actually do quite a lot for all my customers that are beyond my normal duties as a host, I do something think some people take advantage of that though and ask me to do far too much when I have a lot of other customers to also take care of.

I have only even used WHM news to contact my resellers but I might start using my cPanel news now that you have mentioned it Freckled, never really even thought about doing it before.
I don’t update my WHM news very often so its in the back of my mind really.
Could be very useful though

 

[FatalSw1tch]

I walk a fine line on the subject. I treat my customers like part of a family, but at the same time keeping business away from a true family like action.

Of course, because we always treat our customers right. Like anyone else in the hosting business without our customers we are nothing

Absolutly the customers always know that we will have an answer for them. If we don't we will find the answer and we are not affriad to admit we don't know something.

Yes we are always trying to get feedback from our current customers. We ask them if there is anything that we can improve on our current services or support. We also ask them what they think the hosting community would like to see.

Always direct contact, for we show we care about our customers. We won't just hand them off to other staff, but we have other staff for them to ask questions if we are not around

Most of the time yes. I'll give you an example. We had phpsusex installed. Which makes php run almost like it is CGI. Well we did not want that installed. A customer brought it to my attention and I worked on the problem and explained it to him. He was quite impressed

 

[imported_maxhest]

Customers are a main part of my company as many are. I have around 20 verified buyers and customers, I have only lost one in my 2 years servicing the net(this was due to my subnet was totally screwed and we just changed the whole subnet and all of the DNS zones on each site, thank god my partner and my support/security manager knew what to do when I'm not around! I trained them well. ) I always check up with customers via e-mail and IM, most email me if problems arise or use MSN to contact me. I believe my customers are very loyal, and basicly never are very frustrated when I go down.

 

[wsac]

I have good relationship with my client sometime we email them about any help or any new feature they like to had & etc..

 

[imported_HadleyHost]

I like to think I have a good relationship with my few clients but I did loose one 2 hours after he signed up :| Don't ask me why or now, he didn't give me a reason.

 

[fallcreek]

Nope, they all hate me, and I hate them.

John

 

[banners2go]

Due to the nature of my business communicating with customers is only natural.....we have recently installed live chat software on our website which we aim to staff 24/7...although this will be a challenge!

I like to get to know all my customers on a personal level first.

 

[BlackStorm]

From experience from yesterday, ********** (Rob) has great customer relations and I'm sure that alone will let him and his business go far

That is one of the most important things to me

 

[dacsoft]

How do you think your customer relations are between you and your customers?
- My relationship with many of my customers is more of a friend type relationship. I have built a friendship with many of my customers. This was accomplished by always answering questions quickly and friendly; and offering to help when you can. We tend to communicate using first names most of the time. While I can't tell you the first name of all my customers, there are many I can.

Do you think your customers are loyal to your company?
- Most are loyal to me, but to some we are just a supplier. While many customers will move on to a new host if provided a good offer, I have some that I don't believe would leave unless I quit.


Do you do things throughout the year to improve your customer relations, to be more in touch with what your customers want and need from your company.
- Not too much - just provide fast and friendly support when asked.

Are you in direct contact with most of your customers or do other staff deal with most support, sales and billing?
- I do most of the customer contact if requested. But we don't send out emails or newsletters.

Do you talk in real time to your customers, either on the phone or live chat?
- I use MSN and AIM. Some also email.

 

[a2hosting]

Our customers mean everything to us. We go out of our way to ensure that they are happy with their service.

 

[shockym]

Let me try to answer one by one:

How do you think your customer relations are between you and your customers?
Awesome from what all feedback we gather.

Do you think your customers are loyal to your company?
Yes and I have even had clients contact me back telling me so, always a nice thing to find out about after a long day of work.

Do you think you have a good relationship between your customers?
Yes, I have many 2 clients that are pretty quiet and don't get too chatty but many others do.

Do you do things throughout the year to improve your customer relations, to be more in touch with what your customers want and need from your company.
Anything can always be improved, if you are just going to stay at the level you are now whats the point?

Are you in direct contact with most of your customers or do other staff deal with most support, sales and billing?
Both, it depends if I am in an meeting or not. If there is a ticket that needs answered and no one has within minutes, I will pop in there no doubt. I don't like to wait myself why should I expect them to?

Do you talk in real time to your customers, either on the phone or live chat?
Both, if the phone rings I will answer it pending I am not already on the phone or in a meeting.

When we get to the point that we start slacking off and making sure other people always do their work, we are thinking that no one will ever make a mistake. I don't think I will ever be too big to not answer a phone if it rings or anything else. I don't like stuffy up companies.

 

[~ServerPoint~]

We fall in love with every our customer. But at the same time wemove them know about our TOS and AUP to understand why we refuse host some of their projects. Professionalism and honesty are the main factors for us.

 

[The Hosting Team]

We actually don't send out communications to our customers unless there's a particular reason. This may be backward, but we figure they prefer not to be bothered by marketing hype.

 

[VTGal]

Customer service is a critical point to running a business. I know when I receive lousy service I seldom return, so I make sure to always go above and beyond to make my customers happy. A happy customer = a repeat customer! :agree:

 

[mye01]

maintaining a good relationship with clients is the best way to keep business going..if they are satisfied with our services,they can refer us to other potential clients..customer is king they say..

 

[rylie]

Customer service is my line of work so I know how important it is to make my customers feel comfortable with talking to me and satisfied with the service I give them. I always try to be friendly, positive, and very helpful to them because if it were not for my customers I would not have a job.

 

[Raymondmicro]

yes. i agree with your point.

Customer service and satisfaction are the main priority if we are in the services industry.

Make great relationship and solve their problems. Always try to create a win win situation to all.

 

[nutty professor]

A 90% good relation but there are always a black sheep in the family. A host must be excellent in providing support. that way only customer relationships grows.