Sunday, July 13, 2008

Customer Service Basics Keeping Customers Happy And Tips For Running Your Business

Writen by Susan Pittser

The best you can do when dealing with customers in your business is to always keep in your mind how you would want to be treated if you had the same situation or if you were going into someone else's business and buying from them or had an issue with product or services.

I have had 18 years in business dealing with people on a personal basis and the best thing you can do if you get into a sticky situation is to try and work things out and make the customer happy as long as its nothing totally unreasonable, even if you end up not making money on this one situation for instance, It will end up paying off for you in the end in other ways.

If your customer emails you with questions always try to reply as soon as possible, even if you are unsure of the answer immediately try to reply to acknowledge the message and then find the answer and most importantly follow up...

also the same thing applies if they call

Most customers are lost due to non communication, at that point they feel that you don't care enough to contact them and they will go elsewhere

Communicating with your customers is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

Always try to return phone calls within the next business day if at all possible, People are impatient and don't like to wait we live in a fast paced world where people want instant results

When you answer the phone or call someone if you SMILE when you answer the phone its amazing how such a simple little thing like this will make such a difference in the way life goes. Smile as you answer the phone and it will sound friendlier and be more positive, just as if you were meeting with that person face to face.

Also-Never prejudge your customers, You never know who will be interested in what specific product or service, and through experience many times I have found its normally the unsuspected one that you end up with the most success or results from, your personal attitude towards your customers will make a major impact on how they feel about purchasing from you, being yourself and being genuine is the best advice I can give.

Owning our own Successful Retail Florist business for 18 years and surviving many uncomfortable situations has given me a lot of experiences in dealing with the many personalities and customer types out there. You can apply to most any business and has helped me be able to take on certain situations differently than I might have had I not had the experience of being there and getting through it,

If you are Totally unable to satisfy a situation with a customer no matter what you offer and try to do DO NOT TAKE IT PERSONALLY. There are some people out there that are unhappy with the world and their life etc..and nothing you will try to do to appease a situation will help or work, you just have to just know that you tried and this is just an unhappy person and there will be nothing that can be done to please that person.

I know from personal experience there are a few people out there like this, (the good attitudes way outweighs the bad ones )the bad are very few and far between and when we first started our business I used to take everything VERY PERSONALLY and Try my heart out no matter what and then what I finally had to do is realize that there are a very few that cannot be pleased. Be Sure when you go through a rough situation on the job that you sit back after the issue and think of all the happy customers you have made and move on from the negative

I hope this will help inspire you in your business whether it's retail sales, home business or whatever trade you are in.

Susan Pittser is a Tupperware Director, 18 year florist owner and professional floral designer, http://iluvdeals.com she and her husband have 7 children and she enjoys cooking and spending time with her family and helping others. http://my.tupperware.com/spittser

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