After having worked in the retail industry for many years as a sales assistant, it eventually dawned on me how easy it is to become complacent about customers approaching you for their business. Interestingly, it took a company I worked for to become insolvent to realise that the reason that we were there in the first place was because of the customer. In retrospect, one of the main reasons for their insolvency was, more than likely, their collective attitude towards their customers. The fact is, when their customers voted with their feet, there was no need for the salespeople, and no need for the organisation.
While there are many organisations that place huge importance on customer service, there are just as many that still fail to provide a basic level of customer care. Sometimes, it's just as simple as a friendly and sincere greeting, eye contact and a friendly smile, transferring the phone call to the right department, or simply having an awareness of the customers' presence.
But how do you go about improving the quality of service you provide to your customers to ensure continued business? All the top customer service organisations ensure that they not only get feedback from their customers, but they listen carefully to that feedback. We all learned the hard way that the customers' perception is the reality.
In a nutshell, it is no good thinking that you are providing excellent customer service when the customers don't see it that way. If the customer thinks your service stinks, it stinks!
More so, it comes down to the ability of the individual staff member, or customer service salesperson to provide that level of service that will have customers wanting to return with future business.
It's an interesting thought to consider that one individual or one transaction can alter the perception a customer can have on an
entire organisation.
A single experience can convert that first time visitor into a loyal, long-term client or it can produce a shock wave of bad press that resonates from a single dose of "word-of-mouth" intelligence.
If you are a sales person or you are involved in any role where you come into contact with your organisation's customers, it is important to remember that you may have dealt with a hundred customers before the next one you deal with, but it is more than likely that it is the first time that customer will have dealt with you or your organisation. So it is important to make their experience a fantastic one.
The ability of individuals to acquire new skills or traits and improve on existing ones such as:
- A friendly and courteous approach
- A 'Can do' attitude
- A Solid work ethic
- Integrity
- Effective communication skills
can go a long way to develop an environment where customers want to come back and do business.
Now more than ever before, with a huge range of products on the market, similarly priced, customers need sales people or customer service representatives they can not only trust, but who make their experience a positive one.
A good starting point is to ask yourself, "Is the customer the most important person in this organisation?"
Posted on 09/10/09
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