To be prosperous, a company must offer products and
services that people are willing to buy. But selling is not the end of the story.
For a company to be successful and stay that way, it must understand and cater to its customers’ needs. Satisfied customers keep coming back for more. Unsatisfied customers look to do business elsewhere.
Achieving customer satisfaction isn’t rocket science, but it’s overlooked surprisingly often by the average and failing businesses.
Follow these simple rules, and you’ll not only find new customers but keep them coming back for more:
Convenience
Can your customers get what they want when they want it? Review your hours of
operations and make sure they fit your customers’ schedules. If your business caters to people who
work during the week, it makes no sense for you to be closed on the weekend. Also consider opening
for business earlier or setting a later closing time. Finally, make sure customers can always reach your
business. It can be through your website, an operator at a call center or even a voicemail message that
answers frequently asked questions. Customers might need information any time of the day or night.
Make sure they can find it.
User-friendliness
How easy is it for customers to do business with you? Look at how they interact with
you and try to find pain points. If your business has a physical location, is there ample parking nearby?
If most of your business is done over the phone, is the virtual attendant helpful or frustrating? Is your
website easy to browse or cluttered and confusing? Also make sure your website and any printed
materials for customers are available in the languages they speak.
Take Ownership of Issues
Do not let customers’ comments, problems or complaints slip through the cracks.
Own these issues and follow through until there’s a resolution – and the customer has received a
response. Make sure all your employees follow the same guidelines and know when and how to escalate
an issue. At no point should customers feel like they’ve been forgotten or just a number in your tracking
system.
Flexibility and change
To be successful in the long run, your business needs to change with your customers’ tastes.
Their needs may be very different now than they were two years ago. You should anticipate trends
and make changes quickly so that you’re not just meeting expectations but exceeding them. Ask your
customers about their likes and dislikes. You’ll rarely go wrong doing what the customer wants. Just
remember to give them more than what they expect. There may be times when you miss the mark, but
that’s part of the risk of being in business.
YES, of course!
The old adage says the customer is always right. That means you should be saying “yes” to your
customers, not “no.” Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. How would you feel if your request is denied
because it’s against the company’s policy? Too often, businesses instruct employees to deny special
requests except with special approval from a manager or the owner. Tell employees to deny requests in
a way that doesn’t feel like a denial. Rather than say “no,” they should provide customer with a range of
options, even if the initial request isn’t among them.
Customers who hear “yes” more than “no” will feel that you understand their needs and are doing
everything possible to help them.
Friendliness and Warmth
Successful businesses are inviting and staffed with friendly people. Everyone who comes into
contact with a customer needs to be warm and helpful, whether it’s the owner or the person on the front desk.
This is easier said than done; after all, everyone has a bad day. But as a business owner, you need to
communicate the importance of being friendly and helpful. Customers who are greeted by grumps
won’t hesitate to flock to the competition.
Continuous Improvement
Even if your company is struggling with the above mentioned points, customers will often be satisfied
knowing you are trying to do better. The challenge here is making sure customers know you’re striving
for continuous improvement. If an unhappy customer complains about poor customer service,
you need to listen and explain that action will be taken to improve. Most importantly, you need to
address the complaint with employees. If the customer comes back and has the same bad experience,
you’ve just lost that person forever.
Even in the absence of complaints, be proactive about improvement. Read reviews of your business on
the Internet, talk to customers and study what your competition is doing. Then use the information to
improve your operations. Your customers will notice.
These customer-centric ideas will make your business stand out from the competition. Adopt them, and
you’ll not only win new customers but also keep your current customers happy as well.