Customer Service Tips Blog

Customers shop in order to satisfy something: a need or a desire.  Therefore, it follows that your goal must be to keep your customers satisfied.  However, don’t make the common mistake in assuming that it is only the product or service that you are selling that will provide the satisfaction the customer is seeking.  In actuality, the need or desire that customers are seeking to fulfill include much more than the product in itself.  It also includes a sensation that they will be treated well, that they will be professionally served by a knowledgeable staff, and that if they run into a problem, it will be managed quickly and effectively. 

To ensure that you achieve these successes, use these 7 ways to keep your customers satisfied:

1. Keep your promises – if your business can’t support its claims and can’t do what you say you will, all your efforts will be in vain.  This may sound extremely obvious, but all too many businesses fall victim to the mistake of making enormous promises, in order to entice customers, and then  letting new customers down when those promises cannot be kept.  Begin with the very core of your products and services, offering superior customer service along with it, and your customers will become loyal and recurring. 
2. Set Good Goals – set your goals high enough that they keep you challenged in a positive way.  Don’t set them so high that they are unattainable, but do set them high enough to expect the very best of your business.  Use these goals to help cement your relationships with your customers. 
3. Go above and beyond – once you establish your foundation for your products and your customer service, it will be time to show your customers your true worth.  Take the opportunity to consistently exceed what is expected of you. 
4. Pay attention the needs of your customer, not your bottom line – the trick to this statement is that if you are always paying attention to the needs of your customers – making certain that they are consistently satisfied – then your bottom line will take care of itself.  Naturally, profits remain important to your company; they are what allow it to exist.  However, without customers, those profits won’t be there.  It’s the customers that are with you for the long run who will make sure that your profits will never be an issue of concern.
5. Nurture those long-term employees – among the best ways to ensure long-term customers is to treat your long-term employees well.  If your employees are treated as well as your clients, they will feel encouraged to stay with you, and to make that extra effort to promote customer loyalty. 
6. Make your customers feel wanted – a one-time customer is all well and good, but a long-term customer is worth much more than his or her weight in gold.  Repeat customers are created and maintained by regular efforts to show them how very much they mean to you, and through discounts, bonuses, promotions, and respectful, professional treatment. 
7. Nitpick about customers for life – though it may seem to be a contradiction of everything obvious to running a business, it must be accepted that there are some people who are simply more trouble than they are worth, and aren’t cut out to be customers for life.  If a repeat customer is consistently and continually too costly or too much work to keep satisfied it is probably much more worth your while to focus your efforts toward a more “deserving” lifetime customer.  Try to think positive and give customers the benefit of the doubt, but if they are harming more than benefiting your business, then perhaps they aren’t the customer for you.

Keeping your customers satisfied should be your primary target.  Customers can buy a product anywhere, but when it really matters, it is the added service that they will choose for satisfying their needs and desires.

Robert Moment is an innovative customer service consultant, business coach and author of Invisible Profits: The Power of Exceptional Customer Service.  Robert specializes in teaching customer service training that create “wow” experiences and generate profitable results.  Visit Customer Service Training Skills and Sign-up for the FREE 5 Day e-course “Creating ‘Wow’ Customer Service Experiences.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Customer Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.