Good Customer Service is Profitable for Businesses

Have you ever stopped doing business with an establishment because of poor customer service? It's pretty common, but some businesses don't realize that better customer service equals better profits.

There's nothing quite as annoying as getting bad customer service, and few things as likely to make you stop doing business with an establishment. When you use a business, you want them to be courteous and helpful. Some businesses don't seem to realize that the worse their customer service is, the lower their profits will be, and better service means more profits.

Let's give an example. There are two liquor stores near us. One of them is much closer and far larger than the other, but we do business with the one that is smaller and farther away. Why? Because they have better customer service. We went in one day looking for a particular type of rum. They came out from behind the counter to help us look, and when they found they didn't have it, they offered to order it for us. The larger shop neither offered to help us look nor offered to get the product for us. As a matter of fact, they were rather rude, saying "what we have is on the shelves." So, the smaller store gets our business. Not only have we told all our friends how accommodating they are, which gives the store more customers, they've found that brand of rum to be a hot seller now that they're carrying it.

Another example is when we were having trouble with the internet at our last home. We spent 6 hours on the phone with customer service trying to change our computer settings, telling us to buy new hardware, and in every way trying to blame us for the issue. When we told them other people in the area (in different homes) were having the same issue, they finally took responsibility. We were so frustrated that in the end we just canceled our service with them and went to a new provider. They lost our money and that of our neighbors as well, who also changed their service.

We often let our wallets speak for us when it comes to businesses. We shop and use services where the customer service is best. Businesses also fail to remember that old marketing rule: Do something good and the customer tells one person, do something bad and the customer tells ten people. It's quite true. We make a point to warn others about bad businesses, and word usually spreads faster when a business is doing something wrong.

If more businesses took the time to provide better customer service they could increase their profits through happy customers. Unless they're the only game in town, most people will stop doing business with someone they don't like and move on to a business that treats them better and gives them what they want.

It actually makes me think... Have you noticed how few businesses and companies still offer customer satisfaction cards at their locations and do customer satisfaction reviews on the phone? I guess it goes to show that a lot of businesses don't care whether they're making the customer happy or not, so long as they're getting our money.