Customer Service

What Is Good Customer Service?

Good customer service begins long before the sale is made, continues through the sales process and after the sale is made. Customers only remember their last contact with your company, so you must make sure that memory is a good one.

Before The Sale

Timing is critical to the sales process and so is a customer’s perceived value of his/her time. Sales staffers who are late for appointments create a negative impression that‘s difficult to overcome. Deals can easily be blown no matter how favorably the prospect viewed your product or service. Any sales star late for an appointment says loud and clear that he doesn‘t value the customer’s time. As a business owner, you‘ve got to make it clear that your sales people must be on time no matter what. Preplanning is important. A sale staffer should arrive early and wait.

Good customer service is also important, if you own a retail or fast food establishment. When your customer enters your store or shop, cleanliness is critical. No one wants to eat or do business in a store that looks like the cleaning lady went on strike several days ago. Your employees must be groomed and polite. Personal phone calls and gum-chewing conversations between employees, insults a customer who may leave, never to return. The cost for attracting customers is more than $200. The advertising revenues you paid will be lost if your customer walks before the sale.

Customer Service During the Sale

How you treat your customer during the sale is just as important as anything else. Good listening skills are gold on the part of your sales staff or counter employees. People like to feel like their concerns and needs are being addressed, not ignored. You must strive to make you customer feel important. When a customer walks in, every other activity should stop with all attention focused on him or her. Questions must answered. Options examined. Information about selections, service, guarantees and delivery must be answered. If you have anyone on your staff who arrogantly dismisses a customer’s questions as stupid, you have a problem, because this attitude will translate into everything that your staffer does while interacting with the customer. And should your customer decide not to buy at this time, customer service must continue and customers can’t be mistreated. Some people, despite what sales managers think, don’t buy on the first attempt made to sell them a product or service. They wait, they listen, and they test your response. Treat a potential customer with respect, and they’ll be back, assuming that your product or service is superior.

After The Sale

After your customer buys is not the time for good customer service to cease. Follow-up questions must be answered. Poor follow up and ignoring a customer’s phone calls indicates that now that you’ve got their money, you don’t think customers are important. This is a bad mistake. Future business depends upon good customer service. Things happen. Products break or delivery services break down. Do everything you can to provide what the customer is looking for. Go the extra mile, no matter how big or small the size of the order and resolve customer complaints. Remember that word of mouth will make or break you. Everyone must be involved. The sale staffer must handle a customer problem and answer any follow-up questions promptly or else risk losing the sale with a return.

Don‘t Forget The Thank You

Going the extra mile means sending your customer a thank you, expressing your appreciation and offer of assistance now or in the future. Handwritten notes work best. Writing a business thank you letter is a good idea. Thank you notes should be sent if there was a major problem with a customer’s order. This kind of personal touch will go far to insure that your customer comes back. Remember that there are competitors just waiting for you to screw up so they can move in. Be genuine with your concern, work for your customer’s satisfaction, and success will be the result of your efforts.