Small business Customer Service 101

The pervading wisdom when it comes to customer service and small businesses is that the customer is always right. A customer is king.

Which is all well and good until you get a customer that's a right pain in the proverbial. They whinge at every service, they return product when there's nothing really wrong, they phone to let you know they're peeved.

And when you call to chase payment for a product or service, they're the ones who come up with every excuse under the sun as to why they can't or won't pay their bill.

A respected business owner colleague of mine calls this group the Five Percenters. "About 95% of your customers are good, and will pay up eventually. And then there are the other 5%!"

Dealing with them is an eternal struggle, but he's come up with a new tack which I wanted to share:

"I call them and say that we're really sorry, but they have slipped into the Five Percenter group. We've tried really hard to get them out of this group, because we don't believe they should be there. But they're stuck! I suggest that if they have any ideas that could help us get them out of the Five Percenters, we'd really appreciate it!"

It's amazing, he says, how many people don't want to be stuck in a minority group. They often come up with ways to make themselves better customers.

And if they don't, ask yourself if really want them as customers. Might be time to set them free!

All success.

Margie

Outstanding customer experiences

I went along to an internet seminar yesterday, just for the fun of it. There's nothing quite like a rev-up session (and those online marketers are good at it) to get you thinking about issues that are bigger than you.

I came away from it with a head full of ideas. But also feeling like I'd been battered around the head. At the end of the day, the promoters were a bit desperate for their "customers" to part with a hefty amount of cash in return for the 'secret formula'. The pressure during the final product flog was immense. I ran away.

What I did get out of it, however, was clarity about the two things that matter most when it comes to my customers:

A question of service
Every now and again you need to step back and think about your "customer experience". Is the service they receive outstanding? Is it honest? Would they recommend it to their friends?

A question of relationships
How do people feel when they walk out of your business? Have you connected with them? Do you nurture the relationship from the moment a customer or client walks in the door until they leave, whether they buy anything from you or not?

Superior service and nurtured relationships are two of the crucial ways that small businesses can define themselves.

So be outstanding today.

Margie

How familiar are you with your customers?

A small business in tough times is one thing: a small business owner who happily shares their woes with customers is entirely another.

Today, a chapter from my book, The Small Business Success Guide, literally sprang to life. I'd just stepped inside a small business to have a casual browse of their wares when the owner introduced herself and gave me a quick rundown of her shop. I walked around for a few minutes (without my author hat on), and then she came over and offered this: "Business isn't great thanks to my partner."

Okay. "We've been in business together for a couple of years and for the last six months we've been doing it his way," she continued. "And it's not working!"

Had I asked for this rundown of her fortunes? No. Could I empathise? Absolutely. But as a potential customer, should I have had to?

There's a fine line between you and your customers, and I go into this in my book. The idiom "familiarity breeds contempt" was created for a reason: the more people know about you, the more likely they are to make a judgement call.

And their judgement could impact on their purchasing. It did for me today: I hightailed it out of the shop. It was my day off!

My tip is to keep it professional at all times. If this means keeping things to yourself, no matter how bad a day you're having, then do it.

Your customers will thank you.

Margie