Whether you have thousands and thousands of customers, a few hundred here and there or are just getting ready to open a new business this year, your customers matter more than anything else. So, how can you best avoid in essence making boneheaded decisions when it comes to keeping the bread and butter of your business happy? Trust most who will tell you, it really is not rocket science. On any given day of the week, even one small gaffe on your part or of your employees can lead to disaster, a disaster that you may not be able to recover from if it becomes too repetitive over time.
In order to lessen the chance of being in hot water with your customer base, file away these tips:
- The customer is always right. While 99.9% of business owners adhere to this age-old adage, the majority of them also know it not to be true. Customers make just as many if not more mistakes than those they shop from. Also keep in mind, however, that they can in many cases just as easily go to someone else in order to meet their shopping needs. Always approach a situation like you have to prove the customer wrong in their assertion that you did everything right.
- Don’t be a spammer. Whether it is through marketing promotions that involve email marketing or social media, do not spam both current and potential customers. The reasons for this are several, but two of the most important are consumer patience and your search engine ranking. As for the former, consumers get enough stuff in their email boxes on a daily basis, not to mention having to be subjected to a variety of tweets and shares that at times can seem overwhelming. Avoid turning off people who feel like you’re only interested in piling more and more sales down their throats. When it comes to the latter, your search engine ranking can take a negative hit if you’re site is viewed as being too spammy, along with the fact that some consumers may report you.
- We’ll get to you when we can. Time is of the essence when it comes to answering customer questions, issues and even complaints. If you are responding to them via phone or email, make sure you and/or your team do it in a prompt fashion. Every hour that you let go by gives the customer another reason to think about going over to your competition for their products and services moving forward. If you are engaging them via social media, there really is no excuse for being late, as social media allows you to deal one-on-one with customers in a real-time fashion. Stress upon your team that customer service should always be their first and biggest priority.
- Losing a customer here and there does not matter. Last but not least, don’t get the feeling that losing a customer here and there will not have an impact on your sales. In reality, it does not take too long for that number of lost customers to add up if you keep giving them less than stellar customer service. Before long, you will find yourself wondering where so many of them went. Each customer is valuable to the survival of you and your business, so never act or treat them otherwise.
As a business owner, what do you do to make your customers feel like they are second to none?