Good Customer Service Rules
Customer service should be the backbone of your business. If you choose to provide a customer a product or service, you have a responsibility to maintain that relationship, not only to facilitate additional sales, but also to encourage a good reputation within the industry. Bob Reiss, from Entrepreneur.com, tells us that, "The No. 1 need for business success is a customer."
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Know your Products and Services
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The most important key to good customer service is knowing the products and services you sell inside and out. Customers will be coming to you with product- or service-related questions and if you cannot answer those questions, they tend to lose trust in you. If you lose their trust, they will take their business elsewhere.
Stick to your Promises
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Never over-sell or promise something that you cannot provide. If you promise a customer a service or product, you need to deliver on that promise within the given timeline in order to remain credible. If you absolutely have to break the promise, be honest with your customer. Call them in advance and offer them something to compensate them for their time spent waiting.
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The Customer is Always Right
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Treat every situation as if the customer is right, even if they aren't. If you address situations with your customers' best interests in mind, you are more likely to come to a resolution that makes them happy. Allbusiness.com, an online resource provided through Yahoo! Small Business, states, "The majority of customers don't like to complain; in fact, they'll go out of their way to avoid it." You will most likely encounter a few uncomfortable situations, but you have to remember that for every unhappy customer, there are many more customers who love your business.
Make the Purchase Easy
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Make purchasing your product simple enough that anyone could do it. If you sell your product online, ensure that your site design facilitates an easy navigation of your product catalog. Post links to where customers can go if they need help. Include your contact information on your website footer so that the customer knows how to reach you if they need help.
Build a Relationship with your Customers
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The more you know about your customers, the more you can help them out proactively before they start calling you with problems and complaints. Listen to their needs and respect their opinions. Allbusiness.com offers this statistic about customers: "Remember that keeping a customer's business is more important than closing a sale. Research shows that it costs six times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one."
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References
- Photo Credit woman on phone image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
