How to provide great customer service

“Wowza! This place is disgusting and everyone is so unproductive!” Not something everyone wants their customers to think of their business as being–disgusting and unproductive.

I always find it particularly frustrating walking into a restaurant (where I intend on spending enough money to document) to dirty tables, unproductive staff and slow service. Everyone has their off days, but whatever happened to “the customer comes first?”

Many businesses would not still be about if this saying was not still true today, so what keeps the poor customer service businesses still going? I’d have to say if companies do not have solid customer service, they will not be able to stay in business. No one is going to want to spend money and time in an unfriendly environment.

Although virtual businesses are expanding, virtual businesses are not far different from non-virtual businesses. Especially in the customer service aspect. If customers do not receive proper service online or offline they are not going to utilize that company any longer.

So, what is good customer service?

Make the customer the priority

The number one priority should always be your customer. No one likes to be felt as ordinary; add a little ‘extra’ to make them feel EXTRAORDINARY. Customers invest time, money and effort in your company, and they want to make sure they are getting what they came there for. So, make them a priority and show them their an important component to the business.

First impressions are important

Although first impressions are not everything, they are indeed very important. Walking into a dirty restaurant is unpleasant, as is stumbling upon an unorganized webpage. Make sure there is extra energy exported onto the appearance of the business. No one likes to eat off a dirty table.

Be the ‘person’ in p personality

People do not want to do business with robots (people who are unenthusiastic and blah), people want to do business with people. It is much more likely to have customers come back if they remember who spent the time and energy to help them. Make sure to put your personality on and make the customer remember who they dealt with. Remember: people do business with people, not the business.

Excellent customer service will drive your business home. So next time a customer refers to your business, treat them like the individual they are–extraordinary, a priority, and important.