Customer Service

[Burgo]

What do you know about Customer Service, or should I ask What is customer Service and how much importance do you as a Soloist place on it.

anyone want to discuss this topic?

[Burgo]

What about during the business deal?

[relentless]

if you always try to think from your customers point view first you're always going to have a lot of customers

small things like saying your going to contact them so they are expecting but you end up being to busy (or even worse forgetting) leads to a customer thinking your not helpful at all. A small call to say you are busy and will have to get back to them another time makes a world of difference.

[Adam Randall]

Originally Posted by Burgo

What about during the business deal?

I am getting to the point now of once I have a good client, nothing is too much trouble.

I used to watch very carefully that a client gets a dollar value for a dollar paid.

I think if you go over and above then the money tends to follow.

If I sense I am being used or taken advantage of which does not happen often but you occasionally get that type of client then the sense of giving is curtailed pretty quickly.

I think the fundementals like following up on phone calls, ensuring that clients are happy about the job, dropping in on them to see how they are going from time to time and showing a genuine interest in them.

A while back a client purchased a Blackberry email package through us and I went to Borders and ordered in a Blackberry guide and dropped it off to him (did not charge) and I think it made a pretty good impact.

Sometimes I find it difficult as a computer consultant because on the one hand people want definitive answers "Is the 6 hours of labour I have paid for definitely fixed the problem" and of course sometimes its not possible to give a definite answer.

Or "I dont want any details because I wont understand them anyway" followed by "What am I paying for, how come so much time has been spent on this job"

I find it hard to leave out the details while still explaining what we have done.

I have also found that contrary to popular belief, there is a great sense of loyalty among your clients towards you, if you treat them right and go out of your way.

I have lost a few clients, to learn these lesson, but Im getting there.

[Adam Randall]

Originally Posted by Burgo

What about during the business deal?

My customer service does not change between, during or after.

I treat every contact as if they were already my client.

[Lucki]

I always treat my customers how I would like to be treated if I were in their shoes. I'm in the business of making my customers feel good and making a difference. I avoid the hard sell as I personally hate that. I always try and view it as providing a service as opposed to making a sale and I think my customers sense that.

Great question Burgo.

Cheers

Lucki

[TSH-SR]

Hi Burgo,
Sometimes I think this is the million dollar question.
(Key Point 1) Customer service for any customer is as individual as each customer, what is good or works for one customer is not necessarily correct for the others.

(Key Point 2) It starts from the first contact, your attitude to their enquiry, empathy with their need and their circumstance. Your honesty in dealing with them. Sometimes it is better to refer them on for instance, better to say you are very busy and call someone else (even a good competitor) to assist them etc, etc

Customer service while doing the deal ?, check are they comfortable in their understanding of what they are buying, reinforce the positives of the deal, do they have any further questions. This does not include discounting.

You need to be very alert during the deal to anything that may be putting them in a difficult situation. Again this varies widely.

Some months ago I had a customer whose baby started crying as we were discussing the finer details, she was struggling with a very unhappy child and was then getting embarrassed by the situation, I chose to walk out saying I would touch base later that evening, the customer Thanked me profusely and apologised(no need to in my mind) for the inconvenience when I rang back.
The sale proceeded.

As Adam has said above, sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference, the little snippets of information, or little things that can assist the customer after the initial sale.

As to how important it is, I have always rated it as the most important aspect of my business, however, my 1 of my competitors has appalling Customer service – a lot of his customers ring me and tell me, yet he has been in the same business for 20 or more years and continues to get business day after day, I can't work it out.

As Lucki said, I hate the Hard sell, it was drummed into me by too many sales training Gurus during a stint in the corporate world, I was always against it, was always berated by my bosses for my lack of sales style, yet my way always exceeded budget - that answered it all for me.

Just a thought (or more)

Regards Tony