What do your customers see when they look at your business? Most business owners tend to spend their time looking out at the world from inside their businesses. They see clients and customers, prospects and associates, opportunities and closed doors from their perspective as the product or service deliverer. But what would happen if they were to look at their own business from the outside in? As their customers see them?
Doesn't matter what your business is, or how big or small it is, you have customers. Customers are the people who exchange currency for the products or services of your business.
Imagine yourself as a prospective customer of your business.
Would you be treated with courtesy and respect? From the moment you contact the sales staff member or the customer service representative, would you be spoken to politely? Would you be given undivided attention? Even if your purchase had a small monetary value, would you be made to feel as if you were a valued customer?
Would you be given enough information to make an informed decision as to whether to purchase the service or product? If you had questions, would the sales person or customer service representative give you the time necessary to fully answer those questions? If you said you needed more information, would an effort be made to get your phone number or email address so that you could be supplied with the answers you required before making your purchase?
If you decline the sale would your "no" be received with grace and goodwill? Will you feel as though the door has been left open for you to come back at a later time when maybe that product or service would be of benefit to you? Sometimes it is forgotten that a "no" sale now does not necessarily mean that a sale won't be made at some future time.
It's important for prospective customers and clients to feel as though they are welcome guests of your business and not prey. Yes, you want them to purchase from you, but you also don't want to scare them away or pressure them into buying something they really don't want or need - that always comes back in a negative way. Creating goodwill with someone whether they purchased or not, should be standard operating procedure.
Now imagine yourself as an established customer of your business.
Are you remembered on your birthday? Your anniversary? Do you get a Christmas card? There are some businesses where knowing personal information for customers is possible and desirable. If you are in the business of life insurance, remembering your clients on their important dates with a card demonstrates to them that they are more than a commission check to you.
Are you made to feel like a valued part of the team? Whether you think so or not, without customers, you have no business. Just as the quarterback is important to the football team, without the linebacker, it is not a complete team. Customers complete the team for a business.
Do you believe you receive the kind of attention that will make you want to refer others to this business and product or service? Referral customers are a huge way to build a business. Word-of-mouth can either make or break a business...especially in the 21st century world of instant messaging and the internet. If you, as a customer, received bad service chances are very good you'll tell your friends and family...nothing spreads faster than bad news. The reverse is also true...if you were to receive exemplary service and purchased a product or service you were happy with, chances are you'll share that news, too. And, chances are some of the people you tell will want to give that business a try.
Do you ever feel pressured to buy more than you are currently willing or able to? Is every purchase you do make appreciated? Are you sensitive to your customers? In some retail department store settings, it is the successful sales person who can read whether a customer wants help and attention, or would rather be left to browse alone...then helped at the point of purchase. The mistake is to pressure the customer into buying and risking that they will return the product later...and spread the news of their negative encounter with your business.
Your customers are the life-blood of your business. Without them you have no business. Customer Service is about valuing and appreciating the people who purchase your products and services...no matter the quantity or frequency of their purchase.
Let's look at a slightly different kind of product:
Now imagine you are a prospective new distributor or contractor for a direct selling/network marketing type of business. Many home-based businesses are of this type. This type of business has, in a manner of saying, two products: (1) the products that are retailed and (2) the income opportunity itself. You make income by retailing your product but you also make income in the form of commissions and bonuses based on overall sales volume of your "downline." [Downline: people you sponsor who are themselves retailing product and sponsoring new distributors]
As this prospect do you feel like you are being given enough information to make an informed decision as to whether this opportunity is a fit for you or not?
With a direct selling/network marketing business that has a sponsoring aspect, this is the "tricky" aspect - you want to present the income opportunity, but you want to do it in such a way that the prospect feels valued and not pressured. No one wants to feel as though they were merely a number or just another fish on the stringer.
Sometimes it's a good idea to step back and look at our business through the eyes of our customers, prospective customers, business associates...even our family and friends. Maybe if we look through those lenses we can spot the areas needing some refinement or innovation or just improvement.
