How many long term clients or customers
have suddenly stopped using your services?

Have you asked for feed back from them
as to why they no longer use your services?

In this economic downturn it is nore important than ever to keep the clients you have, it just takes one small misunderstanding that can sometimes trigger negative reactions from your clients, who are suffering anxiety of the not knowing what is going to happen in their lives next.

Many people are being made redundant from long term employment, the shock and disappointment turns to anger, frustration and so the journey begins of uncertainity for their future, being on edge because of their personal situations, more often than not when they go to do business with someone they have been using for a long time, snaps at them or doesn't seem interested in serving them .................. they take it out on them and decide it is time to seek some new places to do their business.

How many times have you been in to a business and walked away feeling

• Ignored - They did not know you were there - or pretended not to know
• That you were an interruption to their work
• They talked as though you were not there
• They did not listen to what you asked for - just told you what they do and how it is done
• Were not willing to investigate further for what you were asking for
• They did not have the time to serve you
• Left feeling worse than when you went in
• Feeling they didn't care about you
• That you were stupid etc etc

We could go on listing forever, and I am sure many of you have felt this way at some time when you have decided to do business with someone, whether it be in the retail, personal services, government, corporate or IT.   read more .............

Finding new customers is much more expensive than retaining existing ones. 
Customer service is more than just keeping customers happy.  It's about your business's revenue, a lost customer means your business loses revenue and you create an unhappy customer who can potentially damage your reputation.
Some aspects of effective customer service are:

• Listening to what the customer is asking you for
• Listen to their complaints - address issues - deliver excellence
• knowing your customers' needs - what is it they need
• How important is their time requirement, before it is needed
• can you deliver in their time requirement - if not refer on - they will remember and refer on to you
• identifying your key service activities - are you able to provide quality service in this area - be truthful
• delivering superior service - if they have complained about another company, Listen and go that extra mile
• follow-up - Are they happy? Has it fulfilled their needs? ask if there is anything else you can assist them with

In this time of economic uncertainity, and competitive marketplace it makes sense to always provide superior service. 
Customers base their purchasing decisions on the friendliness and service they receive,
not just price, quality and availability. Build excellence and superior customer service into your business:

• Incorporate customer service strategies into your business
• Train and develop your team to the company vision of service excellence.
• Make sure everyone involved in your business shares your commitment.

• Do you tend to over-promise and under-deliver?
• Are there opportunities to improve your service?
• Do you know if your customers value your customer service initiatives?
• Do you have systems in place to deal with unhappy customers?

From our last customer service training, I would like to share with you some feedback from the participants of their own personal experiences where they have changed where they do business after being with the same people for a long time.  I will not use their correct name to protect us from liability.

A colleague of mine who is a pyschologist had been going to the same osteopath for four years, because he helped her loosen up and her body felt better for the experience. Each time she would go he talked about his problems and always had a negative slant towards everyone - after blocking this out for a long period of time, it started to make her apprehensive about making an appointment. She went there to have a treatment, time away from her work, not to be a pyschologist and listen to his problems. On her last visit he was complaining about his clients only coming when they had pain and how they expected him to fix them, and that his clients were not his first concern as they were not loyal to him, some he would not see for a couple of months.
How was he measuring the success of his business, and how many other clients did he complain about and how many other clients did he complain to?
What message was he giving to his clients, no wonder his business declined.

One of the most important part of running a business is to
Recognise/Acknowledge the importance of your client,
without them you do not have a business.

Janice, 45 had been using the same beauty therapist for 10 years for monthly visits for waxing and fortnightly for nails as well as giving four gift vouchers a year to her daughters for treatments. Tuesday was the day that she had free  from work to attend these appointments.  Her Beauty Therapist decided that she no longer wanted to work on a Tuesday so Janice asked what night could she get in after work and was politely told - none, when asked about a Saturday morning she was told that it was booked out every Saturday with regulars.  You can understand janice's disappointment after being a long term regular client..... it was like she the client did not matter, she felt unimportant.

Peter was highly recommended to an accountant on moving to the Gold Coast two years ago, on meeting the accountant was assured that they worked for the client and he always listened to what the client wanted, and would keep them up to date with tax law changes that would affect them personally or in their small business. He called many times with a question to be bluntly told "You don't have to worry about that, we have it all under control" It was his family business yet he could not tell anyone how he was really doing in his business. Having late lodgements of their yearly return, Peter's business was fined $5.500 which he found hard to cover from his new small business venture.He had put trust into his accountant and his friend, and felt let down. He has since found another accountant that treats him like a friend and he knows he can pick up the phone at anytime and his accountant listens to him, he has already developed a weloming pleasant relationship with his new accountant, who listens to his concerns and always finds a solution to put him at ease, knowing that it will be taken care of.

Don't Promise What You Cannot Deliver
Don't exaggerate the benefits of what you sell or can do, and always deliver quality products or service of quality.
Always be truthful to your clients, and know your limitations about what you can and cannot do.
Word-of-mouth marketing has always been one of the primary ways small businesses find customers.
In this age with the internet available 24/7, social networking sites spread the word (good or bad) to even more potential customers

Customers who feel valued, appreciated, acknowledged, and have complimented you or your staff for the way you have gone out of your way to help them achieve what they wanted, will become one of your best clients regardless of them spending small or large amounts. Many 'small' clients bgecome your best referral for 'large' long term clients.l

Build Trust - Be Honest - Deliver What you Say you Will

Many years ago my husband and I engaged an electrician to put some extra power points in, he was freindly and we had him back several times and referred him on to many others. Because of his willingness to listen and fulfill our requirements at the time, his friendliness, honesty and integrity we got him to do all the electrical work when we rebuilt our home, without asking for a quote because we trusted him and new that we would be happy with the finished product. He ended up working with seven of our family/friends/clients when they built as well as many many more clients with small electrical needs, who also referred on. Today he has a successful business with staff of 5 full time electricians. We are still friends with him regardless of us moving interstate.

Robert, the cabinetmaker we engaged ended up with several new kitchen fit outs, wardrobe fit outs and renovation from our recommendations, he was courteous at all times, listened to our needs, delivered on time, suggested improvements, cleaned up after, and made an extra table for us that matched the benchtops as a gift. He has been our most treasured cabinet maker that has been used by many of our family/friends/clients.

Stephen, a builder we were unable to engage because of the incompatible time frame ended up with seven referrals from us for new homes and renovations,
because of the relationship we built with him. His favourite quote was "we never got the job, but they have been one of my best referrals"
The builder that we had do our job, we will name him Adam, created stress in the project from day one, Lacked respect for us as the owners, attempting to put inferior products to what we had agreed to in the contract, argued continuously with the architect, the engineer and every trades persons we had on the job. The experience is one I am sure that many of you have experienced and one we would choose not to repeat.

Do you understand your clients language?
with the tools and techniques available now in the NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), you can easily identify your customers preferred communicating ways with being tuned in to the word they use, their verbal and non-verbal communication to you. for more info on dates of up0coming trainings click here.
What are you saying to your clients that may have a negative response, how to say it differently to give a positive interest and continued conversation.

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