Act Like An Owner, Think Like A Customer.

For those that know me, and for those reading this that have had me come and do customer service training within their business, will understand that I am passionate about teaching proper, real and old school customer service principals to staff. This is one area of business that sadly gets left to the side or if anything, is trained vaguely once and never revisited again.

Gone are the days where we can just treat our customers and clients with a vanilla flavoured style of service. I keep saying and saying this all the time, “your customers have one thing now more than ever before…. CHOICE!”

This is why it is so important as a business to ensure we are training our staff in better and more relevant ways to service our clients.

Your best asset in business should be your competition. By that I mean they should suck more than you. If they don’t then here is where the issue lies.

 Your customers want to be appreciated for choosing you over the countless other businesses out there. By them choosing your business, they are emotionally entrenched in the process and the outcome.

Sure, you may have a stack of awards hanging off the walls, you may have the latest technology and products and your shop fit-out may impress the hardest of critics, but in the end it all comes down to the feelings your clients have when the walk out after the service has been completed.

We need to teach our staff that they need to act like an owner (take responsibility for their outcomes) but think like a customer (understand that their actions will have either a positive or negative effect on how that customer will remember the business as a whole)

Just think for a moment the last time you were a customer and the sort of vanilla (at best) treatment you got from someone who serviced you.

We have all come to be used to mediocre or terrible service so in essence, we just tolerate it. If it annoys you that gone are the days of great service, then make sure you do something about it internally with in your business. BE DELIBERATE!

Make sure your staff fully understand the importance of leaving the customers and clients with a positive impression EVERYTIME that customer has a touch point with the business. It has to be regular and not just here and there or an afterthought.

With so much competition today for customers business, it will be the little things that they remember. Customer Service is one of those things that get remembered. Normally due to there being none.

Price is rarely as important as we assume it is to the customer. Emotional feelings, and how one is made to feel, is on top of most customers list.

Your customers have 5 needs that at some point in time they will want met.

1.     They want to have great positive experiences every time they deal with your business and your staff.

2.     They have expectations and regardless of how you feel about those expectations, they still have them. If they are unrealistic, then its up to you and your staff to come up with realistic options.

3.     They want to be engaged. No one wants a boring experience. Make sure your staff bring their personality to work every day.

4.     The want to be educated. The is nothing more frustrating when as a customer, you know more about what you are buying than the person selling it.

5.     They also want to be entertained. Make sure your business is a great place to be from a customer’s perspective. When they are spending their hard-earned money, they are emotionally involved. This is why we all need to ensure we are making the experience a great one and worth their money.

Being deliberate with how we treat our customers will pay off in the end. They will return, and ensuring our customers stay loyal is not only up to the business owner, it’s up to every single staff member as well

Justin Herald is the Managing Director of Customer Culture, A Sales and Service training company that works. He is also the Author of 8 books and speaks at over 100 conferences each year. www.CustomerCulture.com.au