Good Customer Service?
Practice good customer service and when you're done practicing...practice some more.
Submitted by Ed Washington of Liberty Web Works
Published: May 6, 2010
Good customer service is not only good for business, it is essential to its success. This statement has been used countless times, and for good reason. It is something that should thought about and acted upon daily. Once you feel you have achieved good customer service (you should know when you have) that is when you go that extra mile and turn good customer service into excellent customer service.
So what is good customer service and how can I help myself, my employees and my business achieve it? It is really quite simple if you put into practice the following things:
Listen to your customers
Customers will tell you what they want. Your job is to listen. Pay attention to them, listen and make appropriate responses to their needs. Always treat your customers respectfully, politely and attentively.
Deal with Complaints
If you are in business, then you know you WILL hear a complaint or two somewhere along the way. Complaints are not easy to to hear and can often put us on the defensive. We all know you can't please all the people all of the time, however, with a little patience and understanding of the customer's experience, you may be able to turn the complaint into something positive and actually solve the customer's issue and at the same time put another notch in your belt for a difficult job done well.
Be helpful, even if it means no sale
There will certainly be times when someone walks through your door with a particular need, but their is clearly no profit in it for you. Believe me when I say, there is ALWAYS profit in it for you whether you realize it or not. Giving a person helpful information for their particular need, even if it means they must go elsewhere to fulfill that need, can lead to a memorable experience for that person and believe me, in more cases than not, they will remember your assistance.
Don't leave a customer hanging
From a customer standpoint, nothing is worse than walking into a business in need of assistance and feeling ignored. Greet your customers. If you are currently assisting someone else, acknowledge the customer and let them know you will be right with them. Want an easy way to drive away potential customers don't acknowledge them.
Underpromise and Overdeliver
In other words, don't make promises you can't keep. If you promise a customer that you will complete a project by a certain date, keep to that date. If you finish the project earlier, you will certainly impress. If there will be a delay in your fulfillment, communicate the delay to your customer with integrity and transparency.
Be friendly, personable and genuine!
We have all had bad days. We have all been tired, exhausted, frustrated, annoyed and generally "blah". Smile anyway. If you want to be successful, you will learn to keep those emotions in check while interacting with customers.
Keep it professional
Listening to an employee babble on and on, on their cell phone while you wait for assistance...well do I need to say more on that one? Also, keep the profanity and personal issues in check! In most cases, using profanity in the presence of a customer, even if not interacting directly with the customer is bad for business.
Train your employees
You have vested interest in making your business successful and it most likely took you quite a while to learn and fine tune your customer service skills. Teach your employees or have them trained, whether they sweep floors, answer phones or sell your products. Each employee that has the potential of interacting with a customer can either help you or hurt you.
Thank your customers
This one should go without saying, however I cannot tell you how often I make a purchase and I am the one thanking the business. What? So whether you are a one person show or a large business, make sure everyone connecting with customers knows the value of those two words.
Thank you.
Ed Washington
Liberty Web Works
Good Customer Service?
May 6, 2010
One of Twitter’s key benefits is that it gives you the chance to communicate casually with customers on their terms, creating friendly relationships along the way.
As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company.
