No matter the size of your business, excellent customer service should be at the heart of your business model if you wish to be successful. It is important to provide good customer service to all types of customers, including potential, new and existing customers.

A company with excellent customer service is more likely to get repeat business and consequently, the company will benefit with greater sales and profits. Contrarily, companies with poor customer service may lose customers, which will have a negative impact on any business.

Delivering high-quality client experiences can serve as a marketing tool, making prospects not only aware of your existence, but also giving them a desire to consider a relationship with you. One focus in our coaching is learning how to interact with clients in a way that makes them feel valued and special, each and every time. It’s not enough to just be a great salesperson.

Even before the deal is closed, you need to be nurturing and deepening the client relationship by investing time and/or money in providing the best customer experience possible.

With this in mind, we interviewed a range of LinkedIn professionals to gain their valuable insight and expertise on the thorny subject of customer service and its importance as a marketing tool. Here’s what they said:

“My suggestion would be to be consistent with your follow up. Make sure that the customer found your product or service gets 10 out of 10. This gives you the chance to correct anything not quite right, get feedback and best of all some great testimonials you can use for your next sales pitch.”
Sarah Airey, The Buzzworks. PR publicity, communications and events to get your business buzzing

“Quality Customer services are the most visible and often the most significant part of an organization at every step of a business journey. Always appreciate customers and show them that they’re valued. The most important aspect of showing customers they’re valued is to take care of their needs or requests in a timely, efficient, and correct manner.”
Ronke Lawal, Chief Executive RSL Management ServicesWinner of “Inspiring Leader” Precious Awards 2011 www.rslmanagementservices.co.uk – Marketing Management Services

“Time is our most precious commodity these days – it’s more important to people than money. It will put you ahead of your competition. Never let your customer wonder if or when you will get back to them. Always keep your customer in the loop on what’s happening. Avoid that they have to run after you for information (it will cost them time and cause frustration).”

“Take your customers seriously and make sure they know you care about them. Treat them like human beings, not like an anonymous inbox. Respond to them in a personal way, rather than with standard templates. Customers have more choice than ever before. They will take their business where they are being treated well and feel appreciated for spending money.”
Anja Schuetz is a Customer Service consultant for small businesses and a Personal Coach, working out of the Netherlands. Visit her at http://anjaschuetz.net or =ttp://facebook.com/howtobeofservice

“Listen to your customers. Businesses need to listen to what their customers are saying. Whether it is through an informal conversation on the phone, a text message or a survey. It is important to understand how the customer is feeling about the product/service. From this information you can then assess, and if necessary, act and make changes to improve the service. Deliver on promises. It sounds simple, but many businesses simply don’t deliver what they promise. This is about simply fulfilling expectations. If you do not deliver what is expected the customer will be disappointed and just go elsewhere.”
Nadine Dyer, Customer Insight & Sales, Mears Group plc

“The best way to ensure a high level of customer service is to think about each customer as they finish their transaction or interaction with your business, and ask yourself on a scale of one to ten, how they must be feeling psychologically as they leave you. Are they leaving angry?”

“Are they leaving passive? Are they reasonably ok with how things went, or are they absolutely delighted with the experience? Where are they on the scale mentally? If you can consistently get every customer, each day, to leave delighted, then repeat business and profits will come whilst you reduce your advertising spending.  If customers are not leaving delighted, then you have to make changes in your attitude, your policies and procedures etc to get to that position. Being brutally honest is the way here and not hoping for the best.”
Ewan Denny. Director of Marketing & Public Relations at Ewan Denny Business & Marketing Consultancy info@ewandenny.com www.ewandenny.com

“Get to know your customers by name, and find out about their current and future preferences. Simple, regular, follow-up telephone calls will keep you in your customer’s mind and generate loyalty and customer intelligence.”
Ashe, Experienced and innovative Business Manager, Consultant, Strategist and problem solver; Author and on-line Editor

“Small businesses can improve their sales and profits by doing the simple things well.  Smile and greet customers.  Be polite and listen. When you greet customers in a friendly way, you get zero cost advertising and lots of referrals.”
Segun Ariyo, Owner, D4J Consulting, Author “Practical tips for successful living “ Purchase ebook at http://www.d4jconsulting.com/14201.html

Small business owners can increase sale and profits by: 1) Ensuring their phone is answered in 3-4 rings by a real person and not an answering machine or auto attendant.  If they don’t have the staff, they can outsource this for the price of daily coffee or two at Starbucks. 2) If they have staff to ensure they have trained their staff in basic telephone skills. I will provide ten skills free of charge. Too many businesses answer phones incorrectly and leave a bad impression on potential customers.”
Graham Hill, Phone Answering Services | Virtual Reception | Outsourced Reception & Switchboard Service | Customer Service Training

“Look at how accessible your business is – to older citizens as well as those who are disabled. Are there any barriers which may be excluding these customers? People who have access needs will go to where their needs are met, and they may well become your most loyal service users – if you enable them to access your services.”

“A lot of your older customers, and anyone with partial sight, will struggle to read documents that are printed a font that is too small. Ask people if they would like you to print their information in a larger font size and for blind and partially sighted people, don’t think Braille, think electronic. If you send them information electronically, they will have assistive technology which enables them to access it. Both easy and cost free.”
Mary-Anne Rankin, www.maryannerankin.co.uk

Do you want to improve the quality of your workforce customer care? We run a range of bespoke and public customer service courses from basic to advanced levels. Call us today on 020 8090 2233/0794 9529 231 to discuss how we can help your organisation improve its customer service strategy. There’s even a 15% discount on all courses if you quote this blog reference CUST-AD15.

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