When you think customer service, your head probably goes straight to sitting on the phone waiting for what feels like hours on hold for the “next representative to assist you”. While we’ve all experienced the nightmare of needing help with a product or service, we also know how much difference a helpful person with a great attitude can make.
No matter if you’re offering financial advising for debt consolidation, running tours of deserted islands, or selling homemade donuts at your coffee shop, the customer experience is almost completely determined by the service they experience while doing business with you.
Think of a time when you really needed help, and you contacted the company for assistance. Was your customer service representative helpful? Did he or she have a can-do attitude? Did he or she make you feel like you were his or her top priority, and helping to find you a solution to your problem was the only thing that mattered? If so, this probably not only made your problem seem less upsetting but, whether you know it or not, it made that company have a much better reputation in your mind.
Now think of another time when you needed help from an employee and you were left feeling much worse than when your problem started. Maybe that representative was in a bad mood that day, or was not competent and did not know enough about the product to help you find a solution. Assuming your problem did finally get solved, do you remember the feeling you were left with? Even if it’s not conscious, that representative left a bad taste in your mouth, which you associate with the entire company.
Business owners of all kinds must put the customer experience as one of their top priorities. Not only will it keep your customers happy, but a happy customer will eventually lead to more business and more successful sales in the long run.
For one thing, a customer who had a great experience working with you during his or her buying process is way more likely to tell his or her friends about you. Word of mouth is a great, personal way to spread the word about your business and let it grow.
Customer loyalty also relies heavily on the customer experience when it comes to doing business with you. If a customer feels special and feels that his or her needs were met in a timely fashion, there is a much bigger chance that the customer will stay loyal to you, and won’t want to move to a competitor (even if his product is slightly better).
For these reasons alone and many others, it is so important to make customer service a necessity when running a business. Any business owner will profit greatly from treating his or her customers well and giving them a positive experience that stays with them throughout their time doing business with you.
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