How To Deliver Great Customer Service

A widely quoted statistic gets to the heart of the value proposition behind customer service: The cost of acquiring a new customer is five times that of retaining an existing one. For businesses that succeed by forming a bond with the customer, the disparity is surely even greater. Good customer service is essentially a variation on the golden rule: You want to meet the same expectations you would have if you were the customer.

Providing good customer service is often a matter of common sense, but that doesn't mean it comes naturally to all business owners. For some, in fact, it means behaving differently than they do in other business situations, says Richard Proffer, a counselor at a University of Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Center. If you are used to fighting about every detail of a business deal, say, you may have to adjust your attitude. Ditto if you feel that selling is a zero-sum game; to win customers, you will sometimes have to make them feel they have won, too. The pages that follow are a guide to providing excellent customer service.

1) Great Customer Service Begins With You Simply put, the most inspiring leadership is by example. If you show indifference to your customers, your employees will mimic it. If you are enthusiastic and courteous, your troops are more likely to be so as well.

2) A Culture of Customer Service Must Be Codified Start by hanging on the wall a set of core values, 10 or fewer principles that include customer service ideals, suggests Susan McCartney, Maggiotto's colleague at the Buffalo SBDC. "Share them during the training, have employees sign them, and evaluate employees based on the values," she says. "But don't call them rules."

Employee training on customer service precepts should be intensive: written materials, verbal instruction, mentors, and on-the-job demonstrations all ought to be part of the coursework, says McCartney.

3) Employees Are Customers, Too Companies renowned for their customer service treat employees as they would have their employees treat their customers. "Employees take on more responsibility because they know they are appreciated and an important part of the team," says the University of Missouri's Proffer. "People who don't feel like they're part of the bigger picture, who feel like a small cog in a big machine, are not willing to go the extra mile." Not every business can afford to shower staff with generous pay and benefits, but not every business has to. Small companies, says McCartney, can show "intense interest" in employees, in their welfare, their families, and their future -- what McCartney calls the family model. It's also important to recognize an employee -- publicly -- for a job well done. Some companies also offer incentives for exceptional customer service, but if you can't spare the cash, you might throw an office party or offer another token of appreciation.

4) Emphasize the Long Term Short-term sales incentives can sometimes undermine long-term customer satisfaction. Prevent that by building short-term programs atop an ongoing program that rewards broader improvements, says Paula Godar, brands strategy director for Maritz, a sales and marketing consulting firm based in St. Louis. Moreover, winner-take-all incentives "can drive a lot of unhealthy competition and disengage the rest of the sales force," says Godar. "We've improved sales performance by much greater percentages when we've improved the performance of the large group in the middle of the bell curve."

5) Build Trust Use your customer's name whenever you can. And sometimes you have to give to get. In his book The Knack, Inc. columnist Norm Brodsky relates how he won a sale against long odds by venturing his time and expertise to help a prospect cut costs. "I was showing him not only that we could help him save money but that we cared about saving him money," writes Brodsky.

6) Listen "The best salespeople spend 80 percent of their time listening, not talking," says Marc Willson, a retail and restaurant consultant for the Virginia SBDC network. Ask open-ended questions to elicit a customer's needs and wants. "Once they've identified what they're looking for, use their words throughout the process," suggests Proffer. "That way, they've sold it for you."

7) Show Your Appreciation One important element of retaining customers is communication. Willson suggests a personalized thank-you note after a deal or sale and even a follow-up phone call a month or so later. In business, loyalty programs or rewards cards drive repeat business (as well as help you collect information about what your customers are buying). Many businesses send out birthday and holiday cards; Proffer prefers marking the anniversary of a client's or customer's first purchase.

8) Treat Your Best Customers Better If your company relies on a relatively small number of clients to provide a disproportionately large share of revenue, it makes sense to devote a disproportionate amount of time and energy to serving them.

9) Solve problems when they occur

It's always best when people on the phone are the first line of response. Vest them with authority to resolve certain types of problems themselves. Don't greet agitation with agitation. "Our first tendency is to match our tone to their tone, but you don't want to do that," says Proffer. "If we stay calm, their voice will start coming down, and they'll begin to relax." It's helpful to think of resolving a dispute as a five-step process called the Five A's: Acknowledge the problem. Apologize, even if you think you're right. Accept responsibility. Adjust the situation with a negotiation to fix the problem. Assure the customer that you will follow through.