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Many years ago, when I started part-time work, I learned the ropes from a much older, quite abrupt employer. I always remember her drumming into us “the customer is always right”. We were told to do whatever we had to do to make every situation right and every customer happy. In fact, it was so important to her that we were told to keep giving them “stuff” until they were thrilled. Considering her products were low dollar value and high volume, I guess she figured there was enough margin in what we sold to give some of the profits back to the customers to keep them happy. It worked for her. She was an extremely successful business woman who went on to establish the most reputable catering business in the local area. She is retired now and living quite a handsome life so I guess her theory on looking after customers worked out for her. I’m not saying we should give product away or fold to every customer complaint but it seems many businesses have lost there way when it comes to defining customer service. Or is serving a customers needs enough. Put quite simply, NO. Serving a customers need is no longer enough to gain a competitive advantage in our highly competitive economy. If you are looking to build a lasting, reputable business you need to exceed your customers expectations. That doesn’t mean giving your product away, or kissing your customers feet …. but it does require you to evaluate the importance of customers to your business, and to be sure that every person in your business understands that without customers there would be no business!

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Research reveals that for every customer that complains or lets you know they are not completely satisfied with your product or service, there are as many as 26 people who just don’t come back. The other shocking statistic is every happy customer will tell 2 or 3 people of their good experience, but they’ll tell 9 or 10 people about a bad experience. Add to that social media and the viral nature of the internet (where everybody loves a negative story) and one unhappy customer can cause a lot of damage to a small business today. So what can you do about? What you can do about it is take a proactive, open and honest approach with your customers. It is your responsibility to educate them to come to your first with their concerns, and give you the opportunity to rectify their problem. Taking a proactive approach gives you the chance to control the problem. Alternatively you become reactive. You’ll spend your time putting out spot fires, extinguishing inflamed situations and carrying out damage control to avoid permanent damage to your businesses reputation. Here are 3 things you should do to encourage your customers to come to you FIRST. 1. Tell them who to call – make it very clear how they can reach somebody who will be ready and waiting to help them with any problem. 2. Tell them what to expect – make it very clear to your customers that your business reputation is very important to you; tell them what your values are and how you expect them to feel after making a purchase from you. Then request that if your product or service doesn’t meet their expectations please talk to you because it is their feedback that enables you to improve your systems, suppliers, training … whatever it is that has caused their disappointment. 3. Ask for their feedback – make sure your customers know how important they are to your business. Tell them you would like to hear how they felt about their experience with your business, good or bad. Tell them how much you care about their custom and support and don’t be shy to show gratitude to your customers – afterall if it wasn’t for them your business may not be around. The same rules apply to negative comments on feedback made about your business in a public space, on a social media platform or elsewhere. Firstly you should thank the person for letting you know that you haven’t met their expectations with your product or service. DO NOT be patronising when you do this and remember your message has no tone so be careful what words you choose. Then give the person a contact number for a person who is waiting for their call to find a resolution. Tell them how important customer feedback is to your business and what level of service you strive to deliver. Then, once the situation is resolved (and this approach will have a positive outcome most times), ask them if they mind you revisiting the place where they left the negative comment to let others know that you were able to reach a good outcome. It is most likely that they will say they’d like to do that anyway. Turning a negative customer around will have an even greater impact with potential clients than the praise and support of your best customers. If you can turn a bad situation around it becomes very clear to prospects that you are focused and determined to provide a high level of service and quality of products. I hope you will take these points and develop a policy for your company for managing customers and capitalising on their feedback, good and bad!