The A B C’s of Customer Service – How to Keep Your Customers and Gain New Ones

I chose to write a post in honor of Customer Service week. As a customer yourself, there are certain things you expect from other businesses. For you, as a business owner, you must be knowledgeable about what your customers are looking for from your business.

1) Ask questions. Always think about the Customer. Think about what they need. Listen to the customer. Ask questions of their needs and wants. And then deliver on what they tell you. Ask your clients what services/products they are looking for. Find a way to make this a part of your business. Don’t be afraid to gain more knowledge in those areas your clients are requesting information about regarding your industry. If they are asking you, this means this is in area of interest and they are coming to you to find the answer. If you have the answer or solution, they are more likely to stay with you then go and search for a new service provider. (*if the service in question is something you don’t like to do or isn’t your strength, it is a good opportunity to form a strategic alliance with someone who can accommodate your clients).

2) Become Your Customer. Take the time to go through your own purchasing or service cycle. This will give you first hand account of those places where you can tweak, adjust and make the customer experience better and thus make your customer happier. Another good thing to do is (which I read about in The Soccer Mom Myth by Michele Miller and Holly Buchanan) is to form customer scenarios/micro focus groups. Ask others to go through your purchasing cycle (starting with looking on your website through to receiving the invoice) and give you feedback.

3) Celebrate your Clients. Take a sincere interest in your customers. Show interest in what they are doing and be there to support them. Also, take the time to show your customers you appreciate their business. When you gain a new client, find your own special way to say thank you (not just a card). Once a project or service is completed, find a way to say thank you for doing business with you. Show your appreciation to your client for doing business with you.

4) Deliver the Extras. Provide the “something more” no one else is doing. Take the time to think about what the “something more” (without breaking the bank) could be for your business and do it! You will reap the rewards in the end. Donna Cutting, author of The Celebrity Experience, Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service, writes about how you should treat your clients like stars. What does your red carpet service look like for your clients? Perhaps it means making a 5 minute phone call as a reminder? Or maybe it means sending a small thank you bouquet with a note personally written by you?

5) Execute Consistent (Delightful) Customer Service. Don’t do a great job for one client and then an ok job for another. Keep the standard of customer services at a high level for every client. You have heard it before but it deserves to be repeated—Customers do talk with other people when they receive bad AND good service. So be sure that your clients are saying great things about your business.

Be mindful of your customers. Take the time to investigate ways you can enhance the customer service and experience in your business for your clients. By providing these customer service pieces for your clients, you will have an increased rate of happy clients, which equates to more new clients.