Achieving good customer service for your business

The backbone to any successful business is that degree of customer service that it offer.Savvy business managers understand that need to constantly be improving their customer service. Here are some tips for achieving good customer service for your business-

• Always answer your phone-To many businesses overlook this key component to good customer service.There are plenty of options to make sure that you can answer your phone whether you get call forwarding, an answering service or just hire staff if you need to. The key is to make sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business. Remember that your customers who call want to talk to a live person, not a recording.
• Listen to your customers-Whether they are calling or come in person to your business it is crucial to actually listen to your customer. There is nothing more exasperating then telling someone what you want or what your problem is and then you discover that they have not been paying attention and you have to start all over again! Stop with the sales pitch and the product babble and really listen to your customer.It is also crucially important that you let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses.
• Never make a promise unless you intend to keep it-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. If you say, "Your product will be delivered on Thursday", make sure it is delivered on Thursday. The same rule applies to client appointments, deadlines, etc.Make sure that you think before you give any promise-because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.
• Do not avoid complaints-deal with them-Remember that 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.Remember that avoiding dealing with complaints just shows your customers that you do not really care about their best interests.
• Train your staff to always be helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable-This is crucial in being able to provide good customer service. Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to your staff about good customer service and what it is (and isn't) regularly. Most importantly, you should give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has to put a customer off until you can be found.
• Take the extra step and go the extra mile-When customers come into your store you want your staff to lead the customer to the item and then wait and see if he has questions about it or further needs. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, you should take it. While they may not say so to you, but people notice when a business makes an extra effort and will tell other people.
• Throw in something extra whenever you can-Whether it's a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, customers love to get more than they thought they were getting. And remember that a gesture does not have to be large to be effective. A simple gesture done with kindness and goodwill can win you the loyalty of your customers for a long time to come. You want your business to become known as the place that provides such a high degree of customer service that customers will work even harder to seek you out. The bottom line is that the irony of good customer service is that over time it will bring in more new customers than promotions and price slashing ever did!