Good customer service
is the life blood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash
prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can
get some of those customers to come back, your business won't be
profitable for long.
Good customer service is all about bringing
customers back. And about sending them away happy - happy enough to pass
positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try
the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn
become repeat customers.
If you're a good salesperson, you can
sell anything to anyone once. But it will be your approach to customer
service that determines whether or not you’ll ever be able to sell that
person anything else. The essence of good customer service is forming a
relationship with customers – a relationship that that individual
customer feels that he would like to pursue.
How do you go about
forming such a relationship? By remembering the one true secret of good
customer service and acting accordingly; "You will be judged by what you
do, not what you say."
I know this verges on the kind of
statement that's often seen on a sampler, but providing good customer
service IS a simple thing. If you truly want to have good customer
service, all you have to do is ensure that your business consistently
does these things:
1) Answer your phone.
Get call forwarding. Or an answering service. Hire staff
if you need to. But make sure that someone is picking up the phone when
someone calls your business. (Notice I say "someone". People who call
want to talk to a live person, not a fake "recorded robot".) For more on
answering the phone, see How to Answer the Phone Properly.
2) Don't make promises unless you will keep them.
Not
plan to keep them. Will keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to
any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. If you
say, “Your new bedroom furniture will be delivered on Tuesday”, make
sure it is delivered on Tuesday. Otherwise, don't say it. The same rule
applies to client appointments, deadlines, etc.. Think before you give
any promise - because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.
3) Listen to your customers.
Is
there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or
what your problem is and then discovering that that person hasn't been
paying attention and needs to have it explained again? From a customer's
point of view, I doubt it. Can the sales pitches and the product
babble. Let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by
making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the
problem.
4) Deal with complaints.
No one likes
hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug,
saying, "You can't please all the people all the time". Maybe not, but
if you give the complaint your attention,
you may be able to please this one person this one time - and position
your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.
5) Be helpful - even if there's no immediate profit in it.
The
other day I popped into a local watch shop because I had lost the small
piece that clips the pieces of my watch band together. When I explained
the problem, the proprietor said that he thought he might have one
lying around. He found it, attached it to my watch band – and charged me
nothing! Where do you think I'll go when I need a new watch band or
even a new watch? And how many people do you think I've told this story
to?
6) Train your staff (if you have any) to be always helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable.
Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isn't) regularly. (Good Customer Service: How to Help a Customer
explains the basics of ensuring positive staff-customer interactions.)
Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and
power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has
to say, "I don't know, but so-and-so will be back at..."
7) Take the extra step.
For
instance, if someone walks into your store and asks you to help them
find something, don't just say, "It's in Aisle 3". Lead the customer to
the item. Better yet, wait and see if he has questions about it, or
further needs. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide
good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you, but people
notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people.
8) Throw in something extra.
Whether
it's a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to
use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they
thought they were getting. And don’t think that a gesture has to be
large to be effective. The local art framer that we use attaches a
package of picture hangers to every picture he frames. A small thing,
but so appreciated.
If you apply these eight simple rules
consistently, your business will become known for its good customer
service. And the best part? The irony of good customer service is that
over time it will bring in more new customers than promotions and price
slashing ever did!
Posts
