Don’t sell products; provide an experience!

Customer Service

In today’s world, consumers have a multitude of choices when it comes to buying products. How do you make your small business stand out in the midst of all that competition? Great customer service, that’s how!

What is customer service? Dictionary.com says it’s “assistance and other resources that a company provides to the people who buy or use its products or services.” Sounds pretty straightforward and not all that exciting, but customer service can do amazing things for your business. For starters, it can:

• Create customer loyalty. When your business provides good customer service, your customers come back for more, repeatedly. And when they do come back, they buy more of what you sell.
• Generate word-of-mouth promoting your business. People love to be treated well, and when it happens they tell their friends through word-of-mouth and social media. It’s a quick and lasting way to earn a good reputation and the new customers that go with it.

Obviously, you actually have to provide great customer service in order to reap its benefits. The good news is that it adds to your bottom line without costing anything. Here are some tips to get your business providing great customer service today:

•  Smile and make eye contact with your customers when you greet them.
• Listen closely to the customer and ask questions to help you address their needs and solve their problems.
• Treat every customer like a VIP—let them know you are grateful for the opportunity to serve them.
• Tell customers what you can do, not what you can’t. If you don’t carry an item the customer wants, offer an alternative, even if it means sending the customer elsewhere.
• Thank all of your customers, even if they don’t buy anything from you today.

Providing great customer service isn’t something you do now and then, it has to be done consistently. It must become your mantra. Don’t just sell your customers a product, give your customers an experience, sell your customers happiness.