“Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Damon Richards
It is very easy to lose sight of what our primary focus is when you are busy, over-worked, and under pressure. Every organization is made up of people who do their best, but with conflicting demands and lack of time they forget these 10 fundamentals of customer service.
It is our job as leaders, owners, managers, and associates to make sure that we don’t forget these basic truths.
Each customer needs:
1. To be made to feel valued. Our business is nothing without our customers, we should always treat people the way we would want to be treated.
2. To be given the best service possible. People should be acknowledged when they come into our store, given the space they need, and for us to be ready when they are; whether they buy a house full of products or simply a small item, or nothing at all.
3. Never to be lied to, or to have anything misrepresented. Many retailers feel quite justified having sales that are not really sales; they say what they need to in order to close a deal. We are different: our families, our friends, and our neighbours are our customers.
4. To be greeted with a smile; whether in-person, on the phone, or on-line. Our customers are never an interruption to our time, from the newest associate to our owner, we have whatever time our customers want.
5. To receive prompt, friendly service. There shouldn’t be a person within our business that doesn’t believe in providing this level of service to everyone.
6. To have products and services explained clearly and concisely. In our business, we don’t want our customers to be surprised by something unexpected. Nothing disappoints a customer who makes any kind of purchase, takes the product home, and realizes that they are missing something the sales person forgot to mention.
7. To have questions answered honestly. We want our customers to make informed decisions, and to always know we have their best interests as the focus of what we do. If a customer asks a question that we don’t know the answer for, we will find out and get the answer as quickly as we can AND call them back.
8. To receive great value for their money and time. Each of our associate’s respects how valuable our customer’s time and how everyone deserves the best value in the marketplace for their hard-earned money.
9. To be called back when we say we will. Our goal is never to have a customer have to call us back in response to a query once they have called us.
10. To have our customer’s problems resolved quickly, efficiently, and fairly. We appreciate and understand that a customer with a problem will never buy from us again until that problem is resolved to their satisfaction.
To be sure there are more than just these 10, please take the time and comment with further “basic rights”.