Know your customers well and treat them like royalty

The number 1 rule in business is to think of our customers as individuals, then only can we realise that our business is our customer and not our service or product on offer. Without our customers, we literally do not have a business to run and good customer service goes a long way to ensure that our customers will return. If we don’t look after our paying customers, we might as well close our doors. Unfortunately many franchises along with JSE listed companies in South Africa have failed miserably in providing any form of customer service.

Herewith a few very important, if not yet crucial customer service tips that we all should be reminded of and try to incorporate back into our businesses:

• Employees will treat your customers the way that they are treated. Do you realise the importance and the value of your employees? Do you great them enthusiastically and are you polite in your interactions with them? Companies do not help customers… people do, therefore you need to meet and exceed their expectations, continuously. By respecting and taking care of your employees, you can create brand ambassadors which any company desperately seeks.

• Quality of service = quality of employees. If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys. By paying the minimal wage, providing the fewest of benefits or by providing minimal training to your employees, will show in their dealings to your customers.

• Go the extra mile for your customers. You simply cannot create brand loyalty if you don’t go the extra mile for your paying customers. Loyalty is not necessarily set in stone, it is something that has to be created and maintained through your interactions and communications with your customers.

• Customers should be given the benefit of the doubt. A very difficult task to execute but if done right, you will reap the benefits. Never try to win an argument with a customer and don’t ever put your customer in that position either. Train your employees well to listen, stay polite throughout the conversation, maintain a positive attitude with the customer, provide a solution and a follow-up afterwards.

• Greet your customers when they walk in the door. We all want to be treated fairly and made feel special. Happiness breeds happiness!

We need to realise that if we don’t look after our customers, they will go to our competitors and the big money lies in as much as winning customers as in keeping them satisfied and happy.