Over seventy years ago, a young journalist by the name of Peter Drucker recognized the power customers and the necessity for extraordinary customer service. He learned that by asking the following four (4) questions, he could determine what does it take for any company to become exceptional and therefore deliver what the customer needed to keep the customer loyal.

1. Who is the customer for your business?
2. What is considered of value by your customer?
3. What are the results with your customers?
4. How does your current business strategy work with your customer strategy?

Extraordinary customer service happens when you challenge what you think you know against what actually is, is. Many times strategies are in place based upon initial beliefs and the marketplace changes, but the strategies remain the same.

When you know who your customer is you can begin to develop a plan to go beyond the satisfied customer into the loyal customer. Satisfied customers are a dime a dozen. With a click of a mouse, one satisfied customer can become the satisfied customer of your competitor.

However, loyal customers, now that is something different, a rare bird so to speak. These loyal customers will stick with you no matter what unless of course your strategies cause them to question their loyalty. For example, Ford had many loyal customers with their Ford Taurus. But management decided to rename the car to the Ford 500 and many loyal customers flew away. Now Ford is trying to lure those birds back by returning the Taurus to the Ford family.

Loyal customers are now driving your business because they are the core of your business. Now more than ever it is necessary to create customer service strategies and shape policies that will do what it takes to keep those loyal customers through extraordinary customer service.