4 Reasons to Make Customer Service a Top Priority for Small Businesses

In an effort to increase sales, customer service should be the primary target for improvement, especially for a small business. Understanding the one customer who has a bad experience is capable of changing how we are thought of by other clients and the general public, it is vital that we ensure that mistakes are not made and our customer service is flawless. It is important to recognize the impacts of what good customer service can do for our organization as well as look at the possible consequences of our inability to provide excellent customer service. Since this is going to be one of the cornerstone efforts of our attempt to increase sales, these points need to be taken to heart.

Good customer service is what makes an average company great and it is the key to increasing sales as you attempt to obtain new clients beyond our base of individuals who come as references or from smaller firms. Having good customer service will make our clients that we already have feel as though we are experts in our area and that we will be willing to go the extra mile to answer questions and resolve any product or service issues. While getting the sale and obtaining new clients is vital as well, this will all be wasted effort without the top-notch customer service to back it up. This calls for always being highly professional, personable, and willing to work with any client. In addition, this will also involve a more modernized approach to offering outstanding customer service.

For instance, some suggest that it is most beneficial to take "a more outward view in customer relationship management and to develop a list augmentation-based approach to augment firms' internal records with insights into their customer's relationships with competing firms, including the size of each customer's wallet and the firm's share of it" (Du 2007). In order to increase sales, we need to understand the customer service capabilities of our competitors, pick out a series of highly valuable clients, and go the extra mile. In short, good customer service will allow us to convert clients from other business who don't have outstanding customer service and will allow us to build better relationships with potential clients. This will involve keeping abreast of new technologies and ideas about customer service and what clients expect from it.

"The interaction between businesses and their customers is ripe for the next leap and it will require a collection of technologies to build new organizational structures such as consumer communities" (Orman 2007). In other words, we need restructuring and reorganization so that we can implement new technologies and forge ahead, able to offer the highest and most high-tech (although still small and personable service they've come to expect).

Bad customer service spells out the end of our business, plain and simple. If a customer has a negative experience with us and threatens to take his or her business elsewhere, we're not just losing one client, we're losing the good word-of-mouth that client would have generated. Furthermore, bad customer service (offer clients an "attitude" or "empty promises") makes our company appear disorganized and not committed to our mission. These customers might find more expensive or lower-quality goods and services elsewhere, as long as they are sure they're going to be treated like a valued customer. Our business relies upon good communication skills and communication is a large part of what makes good service. An example of bad customer service will be offering promises that are not exactly true and cannot be filled. This bad example sets the precedent and the client will begin to think he or she is secondary and we are trying to make a fast buck as opposed to providing great service and communication.

"A recent survey found that U.S. consumers will stand for no more than two negative customer service experiences before taking their business elsewhere....The survey also found that 93% of respondents expected most companies to provide good customer service and that the quality of customer service directly influences their feelings about the company" (Zid 2004). In short, we cannot have even one "strike" against us in terms of customer service or it will push clients to other businesses. Since our company has so much competition as we are offering a similar service, it is more important to stand out for great customer service as this news will get around. Bad customer service, even if it's just once, means that there are a hundred other firms just like us that will be more than willing to take that client on.

For a small business that is based on a lot of personal interactions with clients, having great customer service doesn't just mean that you are able to answer questions as well as be personable, reliable, and offer solid promises that we can stand by. Good customer service also means that you will be able to collaborate with clients so that our vision for a creative project is in tune with what their expectations and vision might be.

Additionally, customer service extends to helping them understand the process of a small business and how their input is valuable and necessary for a good final product. In short, with sales sliding, focusing on customer service above all else (aside, perhaps, from organization internally) we can build a new and better client base without losing customers that have been with us for a long time.

References

Du. (2007). Size and Share of Customer Wallet. Journal of Marketing, 71(2), 94

Orman, L. V. (2007). Consumer support systems. Communications of the ACM, 50(4), 49-54

Zid, L. A. (2004). Two strikes and you're out. Marketing Management, 13(5), 5-5