7 Effective Ways to Win Customers

Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers.

Ross Perot

According to the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) of Malaysia, over 40,000 complaints received last year – 18% more than in 2010. How do you win the customers and avoid getting complaints from them: Here are some salient points to take note:

1.      Quality: One of the complaints received by NCCC was faulty products. It is imperative to provide your customers with the best products and services. It is your quality products that customers come to you and spread positive words around. Do not compromise on the quality of your products for the long-term growth of your business.    

Customers today want the very most and the very best for the very least amount of money, and on the best terms. Only the individuals and companies that provide absolutely excellent products and services at absolutely excellent prices will survive.

Brian Tracy

2.      Claims: Avoid exaggerated claims. Be sincere and truthful about the features of your products. Making false claims means disappointing customers' expectations and drives them away.  

There are only two ways to get a new customer: 1. solicit a new customer any way you can. 2. Take good care of your present customers, so they don't become someone else's new customers.

Ed Zeitz

3.      Testimonials: Provide genuine testimonials so that potential customers can check on them and build confidence to purchase your products or services.  

We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.

Jeff Bezos

4.      Promises: Deliver as promised and do not promise when you cannot deliver. Do not piss off your customers.

Do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it, in the way you said you were going to do it.

Larry Winget

5.      Support: When a product is sold, it is not the end of the story because one of the major complaints of consumers is that they are not well versed in using the equipment they have purchased.   Solve their problems, attend to their needs so that they will come back to buy more of your products or services, and be your loyal customers.

Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.

Donald Porter

6.      Hidden charges: Be transparent in all dealings. Another sore point of consumers is about hidden service charges.  Let the buyers beware of all charges, or else customers will feel cheated and will not come back again and they will also tell others so. 

If you make customers unhappy in the real world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.

Jeff Bezos

7.      Keep it simple: Telecommunications companies are the main culprit which provides complicated and difficult-to-understand services.  Make your customers happy with simple terms and conditions, don’t drive them nuts.

Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.

Mark Cuban

If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.

Ray Kroc

Do your customers come first?  

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Positive Customer Relationships – 10 Customer Care Tips&nbsp

Be F.I.R.S.T. in Customer Care

 

 

Be F.I.R.S.T. in Customer Care

Your business centers on your customers especially the 20% of the customers who give you 80% of the business. What can you do to take care of the customers? It is about keeping the customers happy, satisfied, and willing to come back for more business. The way to do it is to be F.I.R.S.T. in customer care


Friendly: Treat the customers like your friends but be polite. Talk and find out more about what they want and their preferences. Ask and obtain feedback from them.

Initiative: Empower the front line staff to do whatever necessary to meet the needs of the customers. There should be no delay in dealing with your valued customers.

Responsive: Listen carefully and take prompt action. Be sensitive to the requests of the customers.

Sincere: Take a genuine interest in your customers and treat them with a kind H.E.A.R.T Do not over promise and under deliver. Be efficient and reliable to honor your words.

Tactful: Customer complaints are to be handled immediately. Do not be defensive and be ready to admit your own mistakes and offer to take remedial action. Look at a complaint positively. If you can resolve an issue to the satisfaction of a customer, he or she will be even more likely to do business with you. If there is a genuine problem, you should be thankful to the customer for pointing it out.


Be ready to match your products to meet the requirements of the customers so that you offer value for money. The most important thing is to provide superior services to your customers the F.I.R.S.T. time and every time.

H.E.A.R.T Way to Customer Care

How do you take care of your customers? The most important things are excellent service and quality products. However, when you treat your customers with a big H.E.A.R.T you bring customer service to the next level:


Humanity: Be kind to your customers. Don’t let them wait for their turn too long. Special care and attention should be given to elderly and handicapped people. Touch their hearts by treating them with kindness.

Enthusiasm: The energy generated by your enthusiasm will make a difference between mediocre service with an excellent one. You are happy to do what you can to cater to the needs of the customers rather than just to do the bare minimum and get rid of them.

Appreciation: Learn to appreciate your customers more than anything else. They are the life and soul of your business without which you cannot survive. Be grateful to the support and loyalty have given to you by your customers. The more you treasure your customers, the more you will care about them.

Respect: It is only the right thing to treat others with respect. It is even more so with your customers. You treat others the way you like to be treated. Acknowledge their presence, talk to them, and find out what you can do for them sincerely.

Trust: Trust can only be earned. The way to get it is to offer consistent service with better and improved products. Promise less and deliver more.


Customer care is more than products and services; make them feel good by serving them with all your H.E.A.R.T.

CEO of Your Company

Do you know the CEO of your establishment? He is not the guy who is at the top of your organization chart. They are your:


• Customers
• Employees
• Owners



Customers

They are the life and soul of your business. Without them they will be no income to meet employees’ payroll expenses and all other expenses. Customers are to be wooed and employees must be sensitive to their needs. Customers are hard to come by and it is necessary to offer the best customer services to retain them, so that they will keep coming back to you.


Employees

Employees are to be motivated to do their best. They are the front line staff who are in constant contact with customers. When they are interested in their job they will go all out to serve the needs of the customers. Front line staff should be empowered to cater to the needs of customers so that in case of complaints and unhappiness, an issue can be resolved quickly and to the satisfaction of the customers.


Owners

They are the ones who invested a large sum of money to set up a business venture. They offer job opportunities and a career path for those who are interested to take up challenging jobs. They expect their business to be fruitful and is able to generate good earnings year after year.


You

As one of the top executives you are squeezed between the CEO. You have to ensure that there is a healthy growth in the business. You also need to boost the morale of the staff and at the same time you must be able to report a favorable bottom line to the owners.


It is interesting and vitally important to note that customers, employees and owners are closely connected. When you take good care of the employees, they will, in turn, look after the customers well. More and more satisfied customers will come back to you for more business. You, in turn, will be able to show a positive performance to the owners. Everyone is happy.

Positive Customer Relationships – 10 Customer Care Tips

Customer Service

According to Henry Ford, “It is not the employer who pays wages – he only handles the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” Customers are the most important people in your business. When you take good care of your customers, you take good care of your business and it translates into higher revenue and better profit for the company. Here are the 10 valuable tips to take care of your customers:


1. Response to your customers positively: Replying to customers’ requests and questions with a positive answer. When you are unable to help you still can tell the customers what else you can do.

2. Attention to detail: Satisfy the customers' requests. Listen carefully and attend to their needs fully.

3. Keep your promise: Deliver the goods as promised, and promise only what you can deliver.

4. Exceed customers' expectations: When you are able to keep promises to your customers you go the extra mile and do more for the customers.

5. Feedback: Communicate with your customers. Get feedback from them so as to know what you are doing is right or wrong. Encourage the customers to express their opinions freely- positively or negatively for further improvement.

6. Customer is always right: Even when the customer is wrong he is still right. Do not aggravate the matter by telling the customer that he is wrong. You can’t win a customer by winning an argument.

7. Difficult customers and complaints: Handle the situation tactfully and promptly. Do not inflame the situation. Get another co-worker to help if necessary. Give them what they want. When you resolve the problem to their satisfaction, studies show, 70 percent of people will buy from you again.

8. Get to know your products well: Know your products at your fingertips. Recommend the right products to meet the needs of the customer. A satisfied customer will be a strong supporter.

9. Caring Attitude of the staff: A friendly, helpful, courteous, and positive attitude of your staff will go a long way to keep the customers happy, satisfied, and come back for more. Another important point is that when you treat the staff fairly the staff will, in turn, treat the customers just as well. People like to be treated the way you want to be treated.

10. Empowering the staff: According to American’s number one customer service company, Nordstrom, their Rule #1 for new staff: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules. Allow your staff the freedom to decide the best course of action to satisfy the needs of the customers.


Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s Restaurants, says,” Remember, you can’t take a customer for granted. There really is no such thing as customer loyalty. If you want to succeed in business, you have to be loyal to your customers, in order to get them to keep coming back."