Six Steps for outstanding service

We have a lot of tips on how to provide great customer service. Many of the tips are reminders of what we already know (but sometimes forget). And these are useful. But sometimes, we need more than a memory. Sometimes it helps to have a system, or at least some steps to follow.

Here is a simple yet valuable road-map that I have taught in many seminars for clients my services. It 'easy to understand, but can be effective in keeping us on track to consistently offer our customers what they want from us.

1. Connect with the customer

This is critical. Here you can establish a relationship and start a relationship with the customer. Connecting means you're building trust that runs both ways. For this purpose, involve the customer. Start giving them your name and asking them. Be interested in them and what they want. Ask questions. Listen. Respond appropriately. Having a conversation with them. Be genuine.

People know when you are really interested in helping or not. If you are more likely to respond positively to you and to build trust with you. If you are not interested, they'll feel and you have a much harder time developing the confidence you need to help them.

2. Discover what they want

If you have a real conversation with the customer, it turns out what they want. Not always know what they want. Or it may have difficulty expressing it. Often people know what they want but are unsure how to get it. Here's where you come in.

Asking questions and paying attention to relevant answers, you can find out more about your customer. You can drive to get what they want. This is the role you fill and this is how you keep customers coming back.

3. Know what you can do

We can not always give the customer everything they want. Sometimes they want what we can do. Other times, it is something we choose not to.

Every company has a niche to fill. This means doing what the business is better to do for customers that can serve you better. This step is to "pick your battles." E 'on the customer choice that best fit what you can do well knowing what you do best.

4. Do it

Sounds simple and perhaps should be. But it is where many businesses fail. They fail because they can not manage the process of planning, doing, measuring and monitoring well.

To perform well you have to be able to measure what is important. What gets measured gets done. So, your client wants to convert into shares that can be measured. Then configure a system to measure outcomes and actions that produce them.

5. Follow-up

For customers, this is the icing on their cake. It 's true for you too because it is easy to do but it pays huge dividends in customer loyalty.

When planning your run, make sure to plan a follow-up contact. Follow-up by phone, email, letter, visit, whatever works. The most direct and personal the better but make it work for your customer and your company. This thrills customers because very few companies do it consistently.

6. Thanks to them

This is often forgotten. Or is treated lightly. Too often when I hear a "thank you for doing business with us" sounds phony, forced or robotic. People often say out of habit but they put no feeling or authenticity into it.

So, when thanks to your customers, be real about it. Making genuine. Thanks to them in various ways, not just once. make sure that you know you are grateful for their business.

Follow these six steps with every customer and you will find your level of customer service will increase dramatically. Coach your employees to understand and work through these steps (each time) and you'll see your customer loyalty and customer retention go through the roof .......