Businesses that offer customer service are more likely to get repeat customers than those that don’t, but lots of companies still fail to make the connection.

How to Improve Customer Service to Get More Business From Your Customers

They think it’s too much work for too little return. Well, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Here are five ways businesses can improve customer service — and not only receive excellent feedback from the customer but also acquire valuable repeat business:

1) Stay in touch with your customers.

It sounds like common sense, doesn’t it? But too many businesses don’t stay up-to-date with their customers’ needs or services that would be useful for them. For instance, the automobile industry used to be all about selling cars; today, it's about selling services.

Here are some examples of how you can stay in touch with your customers:

• Send out an email newsletter at least once a month with helpful advice and new developments.
• Send postcards on birthdays and holidays.
• Have an auto-responder sign on to your website that lets your customers know that their business is appreciated.

2) Know what makes your business stand out from the rest.

Why should someone choose you over another company? This knowledge will help you identify what services would best serve your customers, as well as help you market those services to them. Then, when you introduce the service, you’ll be able to emphasize its benefits to your customers.

• Treat customers like gold — always be cheerful and try to help them with any problems they may encounter. This positive environment will encourage customers to come back again, and bring their friends for repeat business as well. Here are some ways of making your customer service department one that ‘treats customers like gold’:
• Always greet a customer with a smile on your face. It’s as simple as that!
• Acknowledge the customer as soon as he or she walks in, even if you have already greeted him before.

3) Keep in touch with your customers.

Don’t ask them again if they are satisfied after each interaction. Make sure that every interaction you have is a success (avoiding the “sales dance” by not asking customers if they would like to continue their business relationship). After each interaction, make certain your customers are still happy. For example, if someone calls in to cancel their service or talk about how much they like your company; make sure that you follow up with them (either via phone call or email). Getting customer feedback is an easy way for businesses to stay in touch with their customers and increase repeat business.

• Asking customers for feedback on their experience is a great way to find out what is making them happy and what you can do to make them even happier. Here are ways of collecting feedback about your company:
• Send surveys electronically (via email, phone, or fax).
• Request that customers fill out a short questionnaire.

4) Give customers want they want.

There are things that you can do to better serve your customers. For example, if they ask for help in finding a specific product, make sure to send them a solicitation with the desired item or link them to a specific page of the website. If they ask for more information on your products or services, make sure you provide it. Don’t make new customers repeat their questions every time, but try and respond promptly and appropriately.

• Work on the small things first — this applies to all areas of business and customer service as well. You should remember that it is very easy for customers to leave; sometimes for good reasons and sometimes because they felt like they had been taken advantage of. One way to make sure you don’t lose them is by giving them an experience (or “experience set”) worth remembering. This means putting all of your efforts into the small things and making sure that they are of higher quality than any small thing they have experienced before.

Here are ways to improve the little things:

• Use brightly colored greeting cards with personalized messages to get your customers’ attention or get more feedback.
• Use quotes written by your customers to honor them.
• Give gifts to people who share the same interests as your customer. Including gift card Thank you notes.
• Keep up to date with trends and make changes to benefit a customer’s experience each time they visit the site.

5) Never be afraid to say “no.”

Many companies think that saying “no” is bad for business — especially when it comes to the new customer — but this is actually a mistake. Saying “no” is a sure-fire way to keep your customers satisfied and coming back. If they ask for a discount, for instance, this is an easy way to keep them happy and at the same time avoid having too many customers that you can’t serve.

Businesses will always have unhappy customers, that’s just the nature of the business. But by making customer service a priority and taking advantage of these tips, businesses will be able to improve customer service and get more business from their customers.

• Don’t forget about your employees — they are also an important part of customer service, but many businesses think that it’s too much work for them to put effort into their employees as well as their customers. In reality, the opposite is true: great employees are more likely to give quality customer service than those that don’t do a good job or those that don’t care about you or the product/service you provide. The positive environment your employees work in also makes it easier for them to have great customer service, as they are more likely to behave better with customers. Here are some ways to encourage great customer service from your employees:
• Make sure that you train your employees on how to be customer service advocates.
• Give them reward certificates or free products for doing so.
• Treat your employees as individuals — don’t just treat everyone the same way.

To conclude, the most important part of good customer service is good communication and interaction. Business owners and employees should be friendly and not afraid to ask how the customer is doing. If the customer needs assistance, your employee should be willing to help. By doing so, you will be building a strong relationship between your business and its customers, which will build a stronger customer base for your company as well as increase repeat business.

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