Businesses no longer have the one way street or the mighty "my way or the highway" position that they once enjoyed. NO. Today, if someone doesn't like the business for whatever reason valid or not, they can fight back via the Internet. The word of mouth goes into cyberspace! The business has a chance to prevent this. Many fail that opportunity
MISSION STATEMENT
Every business today has to have a purpose and the core of it is the transaction or point of sale. The operation has to have a name that defines its purpose and intention. The mission of the business should be made known and then carried out. That way, everyone knows where everyone stands and is going
WHAT'S IN IT FOR THE CUSTOMER?
Today, the profit message cannot be in the mission statement. It is just understood that it is not a social gathering so emphasis should be put on what the business can do for those that frequent it. Then, carry out that mandate and refine it as you go. Whatever you do, it has to be customer focused...always!
GETTING WHAT I WANT
I often visit places for different reasons. I make sure I get what I want despite the lack of customer service, inconveniences and hurdles designed to interfere rather than process or compliment the visit. I make allowances and proceed getting what I want. However, the business needs to step up too
WOO ME WHILE I AM THERE
If a business makes it pleasant or easy for me to conduct my visit to make it more memorable, than they are investing in the right category namely people. The fuel for any business to survive and travel on is people who feel good about spending their money with that business comfortably while there
OUT OF SIGHT-OUT OF MIND
When the connection to the customer remains distant and not stable at some places, it is because of poor training. Minimum wage workers are not set-up to handle human nature only problem solution with emphasis on eliminating the problem even if it means throwing the baby out with the bathwater to do so. But people and problems go together. How can they not? Training off-sets this
MY HERO...THE INTERNET
When a customer is treated poorly whether real or imagined they may take it in the moment but as soon as they could reach the Internet, they will share how they would never go back to that place because of the poor service and attitudes. They can report this and have an audience too
WITH POWER COMES RESPONSIBILITY
When a business thinks it is mightier than the customer, something is terribly wrong. People today want a certain level of experience and will pay for it. The opposite is true too. They wont pay for a bad one. Why should they? Thus the responsibility to make good on the promises of the place rests on the place!
DON'T ARGUE THIS
I had to tell someone the other day about my customer service motto. It remains non-negotiable and for those that disagree, expensive too. It is simply this. THE CUSTOMER ISN'T ALWAYS RIGHT, BUT THEY ARE NEVER WRONG. Need I say more? Who wants to argue that in public?
FEEDBACK PUT TO GOOD USE
I know of a new business that just opened. It is trying to attract customers and is having a fair share of normal start-up problems. The owner was smart enough to monitor the Internet for his feedback and found one day many complaints. He answered everyone one of them with an apology first and then...
I AM VERY SORRY
A full confession. He explained how grateful he was for the feedback and asked for a second chance to make good after explaining what he did wrong and why. After a while, the people started coming around and became less critical. Why? The guy cared and did something about it. The comments said so as well. Pretty soon, he will be running a smoother operation thanks to customer interactions
WORD OF MOUTH
The consumer no longer has to take and bear a bad experience or not be able to shout out a good one. All have the ability to report and let others know. From there, it becomes subjective but we all become better for a little heads up. The Internet voice cannot be ignored without it costing something
HAPPY SELLS
Smart businesses today must learn how to use the power that has been given to the consumer for their benefit by servicing all who frequent their place of business first and the ones that do this as best they can will live out longer and prosper more. How? The happy customer will see to it...The ones that don't
The unhappy customer will see to that too!
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