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The Secret of Customer Service

Recently I had a young guy who was starting his own business ask me if I had any secret’s as to how to be successful in business.

I told him there are lots of secrets about that but one really really important secret is to provide excellent customer service.

And to provide excellent customer service is actually easier than you might think. You don’t have to spend a fortune to provide exceptional customer service. All you have to do is listen to what the customer wants and provide a solution for them. Then follow through by simply keeping your promises, do the job when you say you will and the customer will be happy 99% of the time.

So what does it mean to keep your promises?

Let me give you an example. If you are a tradesperson and you say you will come at 3pm to do a job or provide a quote then make sure you turn up at 3pm. And if something crops up and you can’t make it at 3pm then phone the customer to tell them that you have been delayed and will be there at 3.15pm. That is simple excellent customer service and customers will always appreciate it. There is nothing worse than waiting for someone to come at 3pm and they never turn up or turn up a hour late. That is most frustrating for the customer.

Another example is if you are doing a job and for some reason you can’t supply what you originally quoted then make sure you advise the customer and tell them there will be a change for whatever reason. If they wanted their bath to be painted red but you could only paint it blue then contact them and tell them BEFORE you paint it blue to make sure they’re happy.

Behind all of these examples is one thing – communication – customers are human and we love to be respected and communicated with.

Excellent Customer service is not hard – it just takes a good dose of common sense and courtesy.

And by providing outstanding customer service and experience you are able to charge premium rates. I said to the young guy that if you provide exceptional customer service you services will be in high demand. You’ll be known as being the most expensive in town but you’ll also be known as the guy who is the most reliable, most honest, and the most dependable to perform and complete a job and because of this you will get plenty of customers – simply because customers love dealing with business owners who can meet their requirements and solve their problems.

So Jimmy is the most expensive in town but customers buy from him. They say ‘Well, Jimmy is the most expensive but we know that Jimmy will come when we ask him to, he’ll do a perfect job, if there’s a problem we know he’ll provide a solution to it, we know he’ll get the job down on time everytime and because of that even though he is the most expensive we will get him to do the job’

By Jimmy excelling at customer service he also has his Net Profit bulging at the seams which is part of the secret of being in business.