Have you ever wondered how much poor customer service is costing your business? Probably more than what you think and you may not even be aware the you're delivering bad service!

Recently I went through the process of selling an investment property and purchasing an apartment at the same time. Although it went relatively smoothly, re-connecting service providers at the new place was a complete pain in the proverbial, let alone shopping for new furniture!

Time after time, I was put on hold, ignored in stores and kept waiting unnecessarily. I'm a patient person, but one thing I can't stand is poor customer service. You see, I originally came from a retail background and with that comes certain unspoken rules and guidelines. Whether you're in retail or the business service industry, these apply to you too. Such as:

1. Answer the phone on the third ring.

2. If there is a line of customers waiting, acknowledge them and let them know that you won't be long.

3. Customer complaints, where possible, need to be resolved on the spot and if not within 24 hours.

4. You smile when you pick up the phone, you smile when you have a bitch of a customer and you smile when you greet the customer. I don't care if you've had the day from hell, switch the smile on or pay the price.

5. Responding in a timely manner. If you've promised to call your customer back at a specific time, then do so. If not, you can pretty much wipe that trust goodbye. If you continually fail to get back in due course, stop promising a short time frame and put in place one that you can manage with your current workload.

In a world in which your customer has the choice of going to hundreds of other service providers, make sure that you give them every reason to go and stay with you. Remember the five rules and you'll be fine. Even if you only ignore them once per customer, don't expect to see them again in the future.

Ben Angel

Cost of Customer Service -  Copyright 2008

www.nationwidenetworking.com.au