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 won¹t 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 an individual customer feels he would like to pursue.
I know this verges on the kind of statement that¹s often seen on a wall plaque, but providing good customer service "IS" a simple thing.
1. Answer your phone. Make sure that someone with a pleasant voice is picking up the phone when someone calls your business.
2. Don't make promises unless you "WILL" keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception.
3. Listen to your customers. Let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting certain merchandise or how to solve the problem.
4. Deal with complaints. 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 there¹s no immediate profit in it. The other day Jane popped into a local watch shop because she had lost the small piece that clips the pieces of her watch band together.