Why customer service matters
A famous business adage says “The customer is always right”. What this quotation really means is that your customers are the life and blood of your business. Good customer service will help you in three main ways:
• It will help you create new customers
• It will help you keep loyal customers
• It will help you develop references for future customers
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Good customer service begins with the first greeting whether you do that in person face to face, over the telephone, or through the written word i.e. e-mail.
In either of these cases using good social skills will help you create a positive first impression.
For example greeting a customer who just entered the door of your boutique with a smile and a sweet hello will do for a good invite and make him feel at ease. On the other hand when you don’t greet him properly, you continue remaining busy with your work, he might feel neglected and unwanted. This will send out negative waves and he may turn you off in favor of the boutique next door and buy a $500 tablet from that store. Also, he may never return to your store again. Why should he when he has hundreds of other options?
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Obviously good customer support goes beyond the first impression. You should help customers pick up the right product or service and answer all their questions properly. You may support your answers with particular brochures or catalogues that you may have. This kind of service will establish good will and will ultimately result in the customer’s loyalty and trust. Even if he doesn’t buy anything from you at that moment, he will quite possibly return in the future to make a purchase.
Think for a moment how you have been treated when you were the customer. Maybe one day the clerk was too busy arranging shelves and took quite a while to come to the cash counter to receive your payment. The sales boy whom you asked to show you the blazer of your size went downstairs and never returned. Or maybe it was too hot and you asked for a glass of water but the water was served in a cracked glass.
Now tell me did you go to the manager of the store to complaint? Chances are you didn’t. You didn’t want to waste any more of your precious time in that store. You simply walked out and went to a different shop. Then when you returned you told your family members and friends about the terrible encounter.
And this is important. If a customer will leave your shop with dissatisfaction he will consciously or unconsciously do negative publicity for you. And in business you have a reputation to protect.
The opposite of this is also true. A satisfied customer will tell good things about your business to his friends and relatives and will generate good publicity for you. A satisfied customer is your best ad in town.
I hope this article would have helped you understand the importance of customer service in a better way. You may like to read this answer on Ask.com for some further study.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or just want to add something.
Author Bio: Sasmitha is a full time freelancer and loves working on developing wordpress themes, plugins,wordpress helpdesk plugins and lot many on wordpress. She enjoys her free time playing online games and loves to make new friends.
