Services
Quotation
"The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take"
From: Parkinsons Law - The Pursuit of Progress, 1957
Customer Service What is Customer Service?
Good customer service is the lifeblood 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.”
Customer Service Some helpful pointers
I know this verges on a cliché, 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.
Essential Marketing can be your voice on the phone, and will always call back before the customer is expecting it.
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. Nothing annoys customers more than not being kept in the loop. It sounds simple and it is, but we understand its not always possible to be all things to all people so let Essential Marketing do it for you!
3) Listen to your customers.
Let Essential Marketing listen with new ears and respond in a way that will astound and inspire your customers.
4) Deal with complaints.
Quickly and professionally.
5) Be helpful - even if there’s no immediate profit in it.
People will remember and repeat stories of “going above and beyond the call of duty” !
6) Train your staff (if you have any) to be ALWAYS helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable.
From the cleaner to the MD everybody must be “singing from the same hymn sheet” if your customers always get a reliable service they will be back for more.
7) Take the extra step.
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.
Even if its offering to keep them informed of a new product or event or passing on information they may need or a voucher/discount on future business. A small thing, but can be 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!