Customer service is something that doesn’t have to cost you anything but time and effort, but can make a profound difference to how your customers feel about you, and what they say to their friends about you.
It’s an often quoted cliché that a customer who receives bad service will tell at least ten people while a customer who has good service will tell just one. It is true that you should always make every effort to avoid bad reviews, which can be fatal for your business, but I feel that this underplays the importance of the customer who feels he has had fantastic customer service. These are the customers who don’t just provide your company name when asked if they know anyone who does ‘X’; these are the customers who tell everyone they meet about your company, and even find ways to work it into the conversation so that they have the excuse to talk about the service they received. These are the customers who rave about you.
Raving customers might be the holy grail of customer service, but this is a holy grail which is surprisingly easy to reach. Simply take the time to treat your customers as individuals and listen to their requirements, or any concerns (even complaints) that they have and then follow up as required. Finding out what a customer really thinks of you can be as easy as asking them, or as complicated as producing a customer service questionnaire to fill in. The important point is that you must act on any concerns they have. Surprisingly, raving customers are not the ones who have never had a complaint about you; they can be customers who had huge complaints which were resolved quickly and to their complete satisfaction.
To put it bluntly, the more customers of this type you can get, the more free advertising you will get. There is nothing like word of mouth for bringing in business – if a friend tells you how great a company is, chances are you’ll believe them, while you are less likely to believe a company raving about itself! These customers will keep coming back to you every time they need your service, and they will send lots of potential customers your way, long after they have finished doing business with you. But providing exemplary customer service is not just about working towards more sales; you can be certain you will have happy customers, and no one telling their friends and acquaintances negative things about you.
