Customer service used to be incredibly important. Business gurus constantly reminded businesses that the customer was always right and that customer satisfaction came first. As businesses saw profits soar, some business owners and employees became much less concerned about customer service. Employees chatted with each other instead of assisting customers and business owners used a PITA scale to decide if they would even bother with a customer's complaints.
In today's slow economy, many of these business owners have come to realize what many successful entrepreneurs have known all along. Good customer service is good for business. Try some of these tips that small business owners have been using to improve client satisfaction.
Ask Customers How Happy They Are
Using a poll or survey is a great way to find out if customers are happy. A suggestion box can also be a good way to get reliable feedback about any problems or concerns. However, if a business asks about customer satisfaction, the business owner should be prepared to really listen to the feedback and should plan on making a few changes. Few things frustrate clients more than knowing they've taken their valuable time to try to help a company improve and that the company wasted that time by ignoring the feedback it received.
Model Proper Customer Service Behavior for Employees
The best way to show employees how important the rules are is to follow them at all times. Most business owners probably think they do follow those rules, but, in the daily rush to get a thousand little things done, they may break many of their own customer service rules.
For example, the harried owner of a hair salon is heading out to the bank and then on to a meeting with the bank. She sees that a stylist is with a client, who is telling a story, but she doesn't have time to wait around and interrupts. "Mary, I've got some errands to run. You're in charge. Oh, and make sure Simone cleans up her station and tell Hannah that she can switch next Tuesday's shift with Ann."
Satisfied that things are running smoothly, she leaves the building. In the meantime, the client, who was feeling pampered and special before the owner rushed up, has been sitting with her mouth half open because she was interrupted in mid-sentence and the stylist is scribbling a few memos to herself instead of pampering the client. Instead of interrupting the client's appointment, the owner could have placed a memo on a special staff board or she could have had a staff meeting in the morning to tell the employees what was going on that day.
Send Staff Members for Customer Service Training
Some employees just don't seem to understand how to give good customer service. As long as they aren't being deliberately rude, these staff members may need an intensive refresher in dealing with clients. A day long customer service seminar may be a bit pricey in the short term, but it can pay off in the long run, since happy customers are repeat customers and unhappy customers rarely return to a business that hasn't treated them the way they want to be treated.
Instating a clear customer service policy and making sure employees know how to treat customers has always been important. However, in a tough economy, taking care of customers is downright essential.
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