Do You Want More Profits? - Follow The Golden Rules Of Providing Good Customer Service

Last night I was at my computer and a Skype chat window opened up with a link in it from a stranger. I clicked the link and was taken to one of those "You would have to be crazy to pass up this business opportunity" sites. You know, the kind with great testimonials and it seems too good to be true possible outcomes. All it takes is a few hours a day and you can be pulling in thousands of dollars! Wow, sounds great. Of course there was no mention of what the business actually is.

Call me paranoid but if an opportunity has to be hidden that makes me suspicious. The sales copy is alluring, the testimonials seem to come from real people just like me, and the financial incentives are extraordinary given how much time they claim is required for success. It's all just a little too good to be true, and worse still you can't even judge for yourself because they won't tell you what the business is unless you sign up for more hyperbole marketing materials.

I sent back a message to the person that sent me the link stating that the message appears an awful lot like SPAM and I prefer it when strangers say hello first on Skype rather then just shoot me a link. The person responded and we ended up having a conversation which was filled with more and more claims of how amazing the system was, how other people were making so much money with it etc. I said I was quite happy with my income and lifestyle and I wasn't interested. The conversation continued with more and more sales pitching. I was even once accused of being crabby and told I was probably unhappy because of the way I had responded to the original message. The chat had all the ingredients for a flame war which is never very productive so I wished them luck with their enterprise and killed the conversation.

Good Customer Service Rules

I've worked in customer service for quite a few years. I've never had significant formal training and usually stuck to my gut instincts, intuition, logic and empathy to guide me through. This technique has served me well and safely negotiated plenty of potentially "heated" moments with angry people.

There are two simple rules that I believe are at the crust of good customer support:

Treat the customer as a human being and,

Remove your emotions - don't take anything personally

Online communication can often get very intense quickly because people feel less inhibited due to the lack of face-to-face interaction. People hide safely behind their computers and may never meet the person they are communicating with so they feel safe to rant and rave. Text is also a very poor medium to communicate with. It lacks emotion and is very easily misinterpreted. It's amazing the emotional reaction people experience or how quickly they can form judgements about other people simply from words on a screen. That's why flame wars start so easily in chat rooms, on forums and on instant messaging. The normal societal control they place on themselves in the real world is somewhat relaxed online.

Customer Service Online

Running an online business means that most of the customer support I do is via email. I've continued to use my golden rules when dealing with clients and again they has served me well. I rarely do a "hard sell" of my services and prefer to simply answer questions when asked. I look at customers as human beings with needs. This is so important because your business should be about meeting other people's needs. Your ability to empathise with a customer's situation means that you can identify their needs and go to work servicing them as best as you can. This is what successful businesses are based on. You don't make a product and then convince someone they need it, they come to you with a need and then you build the solution.

I recently had a client tell me that they liked my business because I am easy to deal with. All I did to receive this praise was to answer the phone when called, converse as if I was talking to a person and not a potential customer to be converted and respond to emails in a timely manner clearly addressing the questions asked. As a result I now have a customer loyal to my business and unlikely to change to a competitor as long as we keep meeting their needs. This is a competitive advantage created simply by treating a customer as a human.

Some organisations have so much trouble grasping the idea of business run by humans for humans. They are so distracted by conversion rates, sales systems, best practice procedures and the bottom line that they neglect the human condition. Courtesy, respect, honesty, empathy are all traits humans naturally appreciate and gravitate to. Unfortunately this if often forgotten and business relationships can be abusive and toxic.

I believe this is symptomatic of our corporate structure, where profit is chased to the expense of everything else. Treating customers as humans may not always yield the quickest response. Being honest might not always maximise returns. These are not acceptable conditions if there are shareholders to please and profit targets to meet.

A Human Business for Humans

Running a business as a human servicing other humans is sustainable and personally gratifying practice. I would rather lose a few customers and perhaps reap a smaller margin knowing that I was honest and respected my client as a human, not a sales figure. This practice also leads to very positive business outcomes. Customer loyalty increases, word of mouth is encouraged and perceptions change so that clients face less resistance when making a choice to purchase in the future. It's not hard to implement. Communicate with your client as if you are talking to a mate, offer honest answers and be courteous. Don't involve your emotions, don't take things personally and know when it's a good time to stop communicating. These are smart practices for general life and make just as much sense when applied to business.

By Yaro Starak
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com

Do you want to profit from your own successful home based Internet business?

Learn from Yaro Starak, a young entrepreneur from Australia. He works part time from home on several web based business that generate between $2,000 and $8,000 per month. Get your free articles and audio now - visit his Internet Business Blog.

---

Wind Chimes and more...

Windchimes for great gifts!

RETAIL GREETERS: Sales Builders or Customer Turnoff?

Do you need greeters or should you avoid them? That... Read More

Dissatisfied or Rude Customers Can Be Satisfied Customers

On a recent airline flight I was an upset... Read More

Your Career Plan--Think Like A CEO

You've been going 6-to-late; exhausted by running the supersonic treadmill... Read More

Customers - Hold Onto the Ones Youve Got

You probably spend a great deal of your time looking... Read More

Profit from a Customer Service Recovery Program

A client recently said to me: "Most days things seem... Read More

6 Reasons Why Complaining Customers are Golden

With Some Tips on How to RespondTt has probably happened... Read More

Complaining Consumers

The salesman's job is to be well informed; extremely well... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About Seeing the World from Where the Customer Is Standing

It is important to remember that the customer doesn't necessarily... Read More

The History of CRM -- Moving Beyond the Customer Database

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts... Read More

A New Way To Handle Complaints, Or Is It?

What a lot of money we have been wasting on... Read More

How to Easily Increase Your Profits

Do you remember the last time you went into a... Read More

Marketing as a Spiritual Practice

"Marketing as a spiritual practice." It sounds contradictory ? how... Read More

Does Your Customer Talk Back To You?

What is your customer saying about you? Do you really... Read More

The Reality of Customer Service in America and Best Efforts in Franchising, We Can Do Better

Yesterday I went to buy a sandwich at a franchised... Read More

Whats For Lunch?

As an entrepreneur, I'm always intrigued by small businesses, home-based... Read More

Take Care of Yourself Before You Take Care of Your Customer

One of the most important questions people ask when they... Read More

Caring for Your Customers

You probably think I am going to say something like,... Read More

Is Your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System Doomed To Fail?

"Right, People. Let's blast out that mail campaign we've been... Read More

Improving Customer Service

Improving customer service starts at the top - with us... Read More

Managing Your Business When One Client Takes Alot of Your Time

How often has your schedule been thrown out of whack... Read More

Astonish your Customers With These Customer Service Tips

Customer service today is getting worse. Win customers over and... Read More

Customer Service and Marketing that Works

Go into many businesses today and try and get service,... Read More

One Critical Question to Ask Yourself Every Day

What happened to the old saying, the customer is always... Read More

CRM = Customers (dont) Really Matter

CRM was supposed to bring companies closer to their clients.... Read More

How To Build a Profitable Business

It's never too soon to start saying thanks to your... Read More