If you want to be successful you need to see your business through your customer’s eyes. How does what you are selling impact their business both positively and negatively? If you can’t this question you are missing a critical component to keeping your customers business. The processing of finding and getting business can be challenging but often less time and energy is spent on keeping the business. Having great after sale support or customer care will not only differentiate you from your competitors but will ensure your customers continue to come back for more. Focusing on providing great customer care is not just about getting the sale but rather keeping your customers for life.
Sales author and speaker Laurie Brown gives us seven qualities of customer care that will help you both win and keep your customers:
1. Accessibility. Start by making it easy for your customers to do business with you. Accessibility includes such things as ample parking, phone systems that are easy to use, responding to e-mail the day it is received, and a website that is clear and easy to navigate. It means you use language that is straightforward and readily understood by all. If you have diverse customers, it means translating your materials into their native language.
How easy is it for your customers to do business with you?
2. Availability. Are you there when your customers need you? Make sure that your business hours are compatible with your clients/customers needs. If your business takes appointments or reservations, allow your customers to make them for the same day that they call. On days when your business is closed, have a place or person that your customers can go to get information. This could be a website, a person on call, or a helpful message on your phone system. Nowadays, people seek information 24/7 — make sure that they can get what they need when they need it.
3. Affability. Everyone wants to do business with nice, pleasant people. Seems simple, right? But sometimes the simplest things can be the hardest to accomplish. Having to deal with the realities of life like traffic, arguments, or just not feeling well, can sometimes make being pleasant seem impossible. Even so, making a point of warmly greeting your customers on the phone or in person can have an amazing impact on the success of your business. Affability is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone (from the janitor to the CEO) should greet customers warmly. This will help ensure your customers get the welcoming, positive experience they deserve.
4. Agreeability. Customers want to hear “Yes” when they ask you for something, yet how often do you find yourself saying “No”? Or perhaps you defer to policies and procedures. Do you really think that a “No” feels better when your customers hear, “Sorry, it’s our policy.”? Obviously you can’t say “Yes” every time your customers ask for something. So how do you know when to say “Yes” without it becoming a problem? Put it through a very simple filter: If it isn’t illegal, immoral or unethical, then say “Yes”.Even when you can’t say “Yes”, don’t say “No.” Instead, stop, take a breath, and say, “Let me see what I can do.” Then do something. Find a way to solve the problem — call a supervisor, be creative, show the customer that you are doing everything possible to accommodate them. When you say “Yes!” you are showing your customer that you value their business and that you care about their best interests.
5. Accountability. Take ownership of your customer’s needs and issues. Let them know that you will do your best to make them happy. If there is a problem, be the one who gets it resolved, even if you didn’t create the problem. See a problem through until it’s resolved. When other people need to be involved, you still need to follow-up to make sure that the problem was resolved successfully.
Do you follow through until your customer issues are resolved?
6. Adaptability. Your customers’ desires are constantly changing. Make sure that you keep up. Adaptability is essential. Don’t just wait for their requests. Seek them out and talk to them, ask them about their experience of doing business with you. What do they like about your business? What do they dislike? Even more than keeping up, make sure you exceed your customer’s expectations. If you always provide something exceptional, they will grow to expect it, and it ceases to be exceptional. When exceptional becomes the norm, you need to figure out new ways to surprise and delight them.
What do you do to adapt to your customer’s needs?
7. Ability. It might seem strange that ability comes last on the list. If you do all the things described above successfully, customers will be far more willing to accept that you are not perfect. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have to strive for continuous improvement.
"Your customers are getting more and more knowledgeable. The Internet has made it easy for them to gain knowledge. You need to do at least as much research as they do. More than ever, you need to be an expert about your products and services. Take 15 minutes out of your day, every day, and learn something new. Read what your customers read; find out what others are saying about your products and services; learn more about your competition. You can truly set yourself apart from the competition when you acquire more knowledge and expertise every day."
Sales author and speaker Laurie Brown gives us seven qualities of customer care that will help you both win and keep your customers:
1. Accessibility. Start by making it easy for your customers to do business with you. Accessibility includes such things as ample parking, phone systems that are easy to use, responding to e-mail the day it is received, and a website that is clear and easy to navigate. It means you use language that is straightforward and readily understood by all. If you have diverse customers, it means translating your materials into their native language.
How easy is it for your customers to do business with you?
2. Availability. Are you there when your customers need you? Make sure that your business hours are compatible with your clients/customers needs. If your business takes appointments or reservations, allow your customers to make them for the same day that they call. On days when your business is closed, have a place or person that your customers can go to get information. This could be a website, a person on call, or a helpful message on your phone system. Nowadays, people seek information 24/7 — make sure that they can get what they need when they need it.
3. Affability. Everyone wants to do business with nice, pleasant people. Seems simple, right? But sometimes the simplest things can be the hardest to accomplish. Having to deal with the realities of life like traffic, arguments, or just not feeling well, can sometimes make being pleasant seem impossible. Even so, making a point of warmly greeting your customers on the phone or in person can have an amazing impact on the success of your business. Affability is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone (from the janitor to the CEO) should greet customers warmly. This will help ensure your customers get the welcoming, positive experience they deserve.
4. Agreeability. Customers want to hear “Yes” when they ask you for something, yet how often do you find yourself saying “No”? Or perhaps you defer to policies and procedures. Do you really think that a “No” feels better when your customers hear, “Sorry, it’s our policy.”? Obviously you can’t say “Yes” every time your customers ask for something. So how do you know when to say “Yes” without it becoming a problem? Put it through a very simple filter: If it isn’t illegal, immoral or unethical, then say “Yes”.Even when you can’t say “Yes”, don’t say “No.” Instead, stop, take a breath, and say, “Let me see what I can do.” Then do something. Find a way to solve the problem — call a supervisor, be creative, show the customer that you are doing everything possible to accommodate them. When you say “Yes!” you are showing your customer that you value their business and that you care about their best interests.
5. Accountability. Take ownership of your customer’s needs and issues. Let them know that you will do your best to make them happy. If there is a problem, be the one who gets it resolved, even if you didn’t create the problem. See a problem through until it’s resolved. When other people need to be involved, you still need to follow-up to make sure that the problem was resolved successfully.
Do you follow through until your customer issues are resolved?
6. Adaptability. Your customers’ desires are constantly changing. Make sure that you keep up. Adaptability is essential. Don’t just wait for their requests. Seek them out and talk to them, ask them about their experience of doing business with you. What do they like about your business? What do they dislike? Even more than keeping up, make sure you exceed your customer’s expectations. If you always provide something exceptional, they will grow to expect it, and it ceases to be exceptional. When exceptional becomes the norm, you need to figure out new ways to surprise and delight them.
What do you do to adapt to your customer’s needs?
7. Ability. It might seem strange that ability comes last on the list. If you do all the things described above successfully, customers will be far more willing to accept that you are not perfect. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have to strive for continuous improvement.
"Your customers are getting more and more knowledgeable. The Internet has made it easy for them to gain knowledge. You need to do at least as much research as they do. More than ever, you need to be an expert about your products and services. Take 15 minutes out of your day, every day, and learn something new. Read what your customers read; find out what others are saying about your products and services; learn more about your competition. You can truly set yourself apart from the competition when you acquire more knowledge and expertise every day."
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