Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

Customer Service

Something that I am discovering is that great customer service can go a long way in building a small business. In truth, it is probably the one edge we have over “the big guys.” It also seems to be the area that gets neglected the most in all businesses. The majority of the work that I do is referral based and therefore it is essential that my existing clients think well of me. The only way that I will get a referral from one of them, is if they had a great experience with me. For that reason, I constantly want to get better at taking care of my customers. One of the ways that I try to do this is by beating my own deadlines. So if I tell a customer that they will have their order within two weeks, I try and deliver it within one to one and half weeks so that they are pleasantly surprised. The worst, is when I say two weeks and it takes me three to deliver the product! When that happens I am unconsciously telling them that they are not that important, or that I am inefficient, or worse yet, I’m a liar!!!

I also try to go beyond what they are expecting so that, again, they are presently surprised…to the point that they would tell someone about it. I always include a little something extra. Something that may not cost me too much overhead, but that they would love to have. Better yet, giving them a product that is cool that they may not know about, and then in turn, tell someone else how cool that product is. This recently happened when I personally delivered some product to a client who’s business is near my office. Not only was she surprised that I would hand deliver something, but then the product she got (something called “Stand Out Photomounts”) was so cool and different that she was telling and showing everyone in the office how awesome it was. I was getting great referral business right there because the client was already telling people about it!

This is one of those areas that could be such an easy way for us to boost our business. There are some many little and inexpensive things to do for our clients that make a difference. Sending a note, remembering a birthday, or anything that is beyond what you might normally expect. I’ve noticed over the last few years that good customer service is really hard to come by. My website fiasco that I blogged about last week is a great example of that to me. So many businesses just care about money more than people these days. To care about people and serve them well I think will go a long way in making our small businesses very successful. I think when you genuinely care about people, the money will follow.

Jason

Posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Jason Meyer Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.