The easiest way to attracting customers is to render excellent customer service to customers. We are in the customers-centered, market economy today. Whatever is your product or service, you need customers to patronize you because you can’t be a seller and buyer at the same time. So every company or entrepreneur must be thinking about how to satisfy their customers better than their competitors or fierce rivers.
Customers have so much power and cannot be ignored. How to make these customers happy should be the ultimate aim of every entrepreneur. You must always look for ways to please the customers better than your competitors if you still want to remain in business.
Customer service has to do with the degree to which customer’s needs are met and at the same time exceed their expectations. There are so many ways to advertise your business and get maximum exposure and attracting tons of customers but the only way to keep them as your regular customers is through excellent customer service.
Therefore developing customer service skills is what you need, if you want to become a successful entrepreneur.
The importance of customer service skills to entrepreneur or marketer
There are numerous benefits of customer service skills and no successful marketer or entrepreneur without a high level of customer service skills. Here is the importance of customer service skills.
1. It increases trust and loyalty: There’s a saying that; before anyone can purchase from you they have already purchased you. The saying is very true. If a customer didn’t trust you, he or she will find it difficult to buy from you. He may buy from you once but he cannot be your regular customer.
2. It increases sales: Entrepreneur or enterprise with a high level of customer service always makes sales than their competitors.
3. It eases the marketing process: Every business that renders quality customer service always finds it easy to attract new customers. And their satisfied customers will help them tell their family and friends.
4. It enhances customer management: If you have quality customer service skills to manage your customers wouldn’t be a problem for you anymore. There you have some of the merits and so much more to mention.
Five facts about customer service
It is easy to lose customers and sometimes very difficult or expensive to replace lost customers. There is a statistics from the Technical Assistance Research Program (TARP) in the United State of America which state the following facts below:
- For every customer who complains, 26 other unhappy customers remain silent.
- The “wronged” or unhappy customer will tell eight to sixteen people.
- 91% of unhappy customers will not buy from you anymore.
- For every satisfied and happy customer will remain regular customers.
- It costs five times as much to attract new customers as it cost to keep old ones.
It is very clear from the above report that it is expensive to lose customers. Paying attention to customer satisfaction requires interpersonal skills can distinguish an entrepreneur from other competitors with other factors, remaining constant.
Every communication between a customer and entrepreneur is an opportunity to render quality customer service and prove to be customer minded.
What customers always complain about?
Customers always complain for three reasons and they are:
- When customers realize that their service expectation has not been exceeded
- When customers don’t like how they have been treated and;
- When your price is higher compared to your competitors
Customers are self-center and a successful entrepreneur must prepare to focus their emotions. So only businesses that can be successful are businesses that treated their customers as KING and QUEEN and customer satisfaction is their ultimate aims.
This is because customers are the heart of any business, a business owner that can’t attract customers to his or her business isn’t an entrepreneur or business owner that doesn’t have the right customer service skills is not an entrepreneur.
That reminds me of my friend Adah Francis that used to called himself entrepreneur after he read one of my blog post title In-depth meaning of entrepreneur and definition of an entrepreneur, he called me and said base the blog post he is not yet an entrepreneur because his still lacking customer service skills and persuasion tactics.
Every entrepreneur requires these skills if he or she wants to be a successful business person.
Some Do’s of customer service to take into practice
1. Do let customers keep their pride: It is very necessary to understand the fact that; the customer’s dissatisfaction is from the customer’s point of view, not yours. So you need to give them the respect they deserve.
2. Be nice but firm: It is good to be polite always and show interest in whatever your customer says even when the customer seems most unfriendly, rude or disrespectful. Self-control, tolerance, patience and good attitude are required to render excellent service to your customers.
3. Do learn to apologize quickly when needed: It does not cost you anything to say sorry to a customer and it can cost you lose customers. Admit errors or mistakes caused by you or your staff.
4. Do let your price be reasonable: Don’t think of making all your profit from a single product or sale. Don’t be greedy, you can succeed by doing so but the customer may never come back again. Customer practice economic calculation in their choices. A customer wants the very most for the very least and they will buy from anyone they feel can best give it to them.
Some don’t of customer service to take into practice
1. Don’t let your price too lower than your competitors because most customers believe that a product that it price is too low is less quality. My former employer is a good example, he believe the higher the price, the higher the quality which means he believe that the price determines the quality of a product or service.
2. Don’t let your staff beg customers for money because most customers aren’t happy with that.
3. Don’t fight or quarrel with a customer: Don’t you or your staff quarrel with your customers even the customer is at fought. It will tarnish business reputation.
4. Don’t let your business premises dirty or look scatter and make sure it odor-free. There you have some dos and don’ts of customer service, you can add your own.
Conclusion
To survive and thrive in the business world, you must deal daily with completely self-centered and impatient customers who want what they want when and how they want it and who will go elsewhere at a moment notice. The better you serve your customers the more customers you will attract. Excellence customer service is a powerful magnetic force of attraction. Begin to show excellence customer service as part of your core value in business. Stay relevant to your customers.
