17 Sep Service Matters
SEP 17, 2018
Good customer service is a commodity in today’s world. Have you ever gone out for a meal and the food was great, but the service you were provided ruined the entire experience?
Customer service is how we choose who to do business with. We frequent the most convenient, friendly grocery store in our neighborhood. We have our favorite bank teller, cosmetologist, dentist, doctor, plumber and veterinarian. Let’s face it, when it comes to establishing our core of service providers, we choose the one that we have the best relationship with and that services our needs the best. The best servers are those that are friendly and attentive. This is true across the board not just in restaurants. Good customer service should be at the forefront of any business.
If you understand that customer service is the most important thing you can do to help your business grow, you’re correct. There are customer service lessons every business should learn and one is to practice anticipatory service. Anticipatory service is the style of service when your business anticipates problems that may occur and stops them before they can happen.
You can do something as simple as calling a customer to see if they have any questions before they call you to seek help. Being proactive and establishing dialogue will show awareness from your company and prove that you have respect for your customers’ time. No one wants to waste precious time having to repeatedly call a business for help.
Customer retention requires providing top-level customer service at all times. This should not only occur when customers become dissatisfied. Building loyalty through customer service is not a hit-or-miss proposition. Customer service is letting customers know they are “number one” all the time. A high level of customer service can make the difference between one isolated sale or repeat business and customer referrals.Since it takes considerably more cost, time, and effort to obtain new customers than it takes to retain current customers, businesses should concentrate on cultivating ordinary customers into extraordinary customers.
Competition is also intense in almost every industry. Once a customer is lost to the competition, rarely does that customer return, and the investment of both financial and human capital is lost. Customers will remain loyal to the brand with lasting top- shelf customer service.