Why Simplicity Sofas is a Beloved Company

Simplicity Sofas is a beloved company and their customer service philosophy is very simple:

• They do whatever it takes to surprise and delight customers.
• They make the furniture purchasing experience informative and enjoyable.
• They deliver more than customers expect.

Simplicity Sofas is a furniture manufacturer in High Point, NC., and e-commerce retailer specializing in furniture for small spaces. After more than six years in business and $4 million in sales, the company has never received a negative review. (Read More: Customer Reviews on Simplicity Sofas web site.)

Jeff Franks has ensured their philosophy transforms into actions that deliver a unified customer experience, which in turn earns the customer’s story and word-of-mouth advertising. Its the norm for customers to tell friends, family and co-workers about Simplicity Sofas and to recruit them to try the furniture.  Here are Jeff’s 10 tips for achieving beloved company status:

10 Tips from Simplicity Sofas for Achieving 100% Customer Satisfaction

1. Speed is critical. Customers expect a 24 hour response time. They are delighted when they hear from you within 6 hours and amazed by a 1 hour response. The faster you respond to your customers the easier it becomes to close a sale or solve a problem. Failure to return a call or email is inexcusable.

2. If you don’t have an immediate answer, quickly inform the customer that you are working on their inquiry and will get back to them soon. Then do it!

3. When responding to a customer complaint always begin by assuring the customer that you will fix their problem. This immediately removes the adversarial relationship that can lead to messy and expensive confrontations.

4. Always offer the customer choices. This is particularly important in problem situations.  If you offer your customer three or more possible solutions they will feel included in the eventual resolution. Also, you will be surprised at how often the solution selected is not as expensive or burdensome as the one you thought they would demand.

5. Never answer a question by telling a customer something is “company policy.” All responses must make logical sense to both you and the customer. If you can’t reasonably explain the company policy either you need more information or the company policy needs to be changed.

6. The object of problem resolution is not to “satisfy” the customer but to “amaze” them by going above and beyond their expectations.

7. Mistakes and problems always result in opportunities to create long-term loyal customers by exceeding expectations.

8. Transforming an “angry” customer into an enthusiastic advocate is always worth the cost.

9. The resentment felt by an inconvenienced or frustrated customer can be transformed into gratitude and long-term loyalty by a small compensation offer – especially when the customer realizes that the circumstances were beyond your control.

10. Unhappy employees cannot create delighted customers.