The Buzz

Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those
customers to come back, your business won’t be profitable for long.

Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy – happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who
may then try the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers.

If you’re a good salesperson, you can sell anything to anyone once. But it will be your approach to customer service that determines whether or not you’ll ever be able to sell that person
anything else. The essence of good customer service is forming a relationship with customers – a relationship that that individual customer feels that he would like to pursue.

How do you go about forming such a relationship? By remembering the one true secret of good customer service and acting accordingly; “You will be judged by what you do, not what you
say.”

1) Answer your phone.

Remember the importance of a first impression. If you can't pick up, be sure your message reflects that customer service is your priority (which means NOT saying that you'll get back to
someone at YOUR earliest convenience).

2) Don’t make promises unless you WILL keep them.

Not plan to keep them. Will keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception.

3) Listen to your customers.

Any questions?

4) Deal with complaints.

No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, “You can’t please all the people all the time”. Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your
attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time - and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.

5) Be helpful.

And that means even when there's no immediate benefit to you. Word of mouth is powerful, and helping without expecting anything in return is actually a great marketing strategy. Who do
you think our customers talk to? Our potential customers.

6) Take the extra step.

For example, don't just give someone an LMI report! Show them how to use it. They may not say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people.

7) Throw in something extra.

Whether it’s a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were getting. And don’t
think that a gesture has to be large to be effective.