Small Office, Home Office Information |
| Customers Are Vital For Your Small Business Unhappy customers are even more important.
I have a confession to make. I know I’ve talked in the past about customer service and how important it is. Without good customer service a small business is almost certainly doomed to failure. I know all that but sometimes customers can be such a pain. Customers complain, they’re not happy with the service and they’re oblivious to anyone else’s needs but their own. They want everything done yesterday, they expect you to be available 24 hours a day and when you’re not they complain even more. Sometimes I wish customers would just go away and let me get on with my work. And please, if you’re a dissatisfied customer I don’t want to know you. I’ll hide from you, I’ll make up excuses and I’ll turn the blame back on you even if the problem really was down to me. And if you never come back I won’t care. On the other hand Toni has a much more realistic view of customers. She sees customers as assets to the business, friends to be looked after, valuable sources of information and a fundamental part of our business. She even sees unhappy customers as a vital part of the business. She doesn’t hide from them, she doesn’t make excuses and she accepts that sometimes we are to blame for problems. Is she crazy or what? Well my partner may be a lot of unusual things but crazy is definitely not one of them. Her view of customers is actually mine as well and we both recognise just how important dissatisfied customers are for our business. A dissatisfied customer is a window that looks in on your business; a window that gives a view that you may not have seen before. Never dismiss them because they can show you ways of improving your business and your appeal to the marketplace that you may never have thought of. Instead of ignoring them spend time with them. Talk to them and find out why they are unhappy with the service you have provided. Spend time assessing what they have to say and see if you can’t improve the services you offer to ensure that others don’t have the same complaints that they do. And take up the challenge that a dissatisfied customer offers you. They may not realise that they are offering you a challenge but they are and it’s there for you to grab and run with … but only if you’re good enough. Fortunately we don’t have many dissatisfied customers but when we do Toni spends time talking with them. She finds out why they are unhappy, she discusses ways that we can improve our service and sometimes she will even spend time explaining why they may have had an unrealistic view of the situation. And I have yet to see one of those people that she has spent time with walk away without placing another order. That may never be your experience with less than satisfied customers, Toni is very good at what she does and I have never seen anyone else who could achieve the same results. But you should never dismiss customers, especially unhappy ones, as being a nuisance because they are not. Customers
are vital for your business.
1 Sep 2005 |
|