Article posted to LinkedIN on July 1, 2016 that looks at common-sense ways to serve demanding customers.

A good friend, who is also a small business owner, and I had a great conversation on the topic of how to increase customer loyalty without giving away the shop. My friend insists her employees go the extra mile whenever they engage a customer. My body language betrays me and often tells the person in the room, exactly what I am thinking. That day was no exception! My friend is a BIVA (business Diva – yes I just made that up)! She stopped talking, looked in my eyes so that I could not look away, exhaled a long this is going to be good sigh and waited for an explanation. Every now and then her eyes darted back and forth so I knew she was preparing her defense before I opened my mouth. And, being the BIVA I can be, I engaged the battle. (First of all from a Customer Care perspective, you know you have the advantage when you see (or hear) the person preparing a defense before you state your case! You also know you must be accurate and clear or your every word will be under attack; and, you will never get to address the issue.) To my friend, going the extra mile means asking the customer’s name and repeating it with a big hello in a pleasant sing-songy voice, smiling, making sure there is a chair for the customer, providing water, and letting the customer know how long a wait to anticipate. It can also mean a free redo if the customer is not happy with the service. In my Rat Bastard Customer Care way of listening and thinking, I’d have to say the water was nice but everything else was an expectation. My friend owns two businesses... a nail salon and an insurance evaluation consultancy. After I said, “The water is a nice touch,” she went full steam ahead listing all the free stuff and services her employees provide when they spot signs of customers becoming dissatisfied. Without going into her list, I'd have to say at times, it sounded like her employees give the shop away! So, without giving away my shop I shared my opinion on the topic: * Acknowledging your customer is not going the extra mile…you don’t deserve them if you do not acknowledge them! * Smiling and being pleasant are niceties but what is the alternative…being indifferent or dismissive? Being pleasant is not excellent service, it is a normal expectation! * It is wonderful when you have more business than anticipated and providing a reasonable timeframe to receive service is courteous, but again, it is an expectation not an extra service. * Giving away or offering free services at the sign of dissatisfaction...!!! *&^#... RIDICULOUS! o Do your due diligence! Is it dissatisfaction or something else? Could it be buyer’s remorse? Why is the customer dissatisfied? Did you do something wrong? Did your advertisement target the right audience? Did you misunderstand and go forward without clarifying? Did the customer misunderstand the service? Did the customer misread or NOT read your ad? Did the customer do something to create the problem? If the customer is at fault, explain the customer’s error. IF YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG, MAKE IT RIGHT! If you did not provide the service the customer paid for because you did not listen or some other failure on your part, of course you should redo it at no charge! Ask the customer how they would like to handle the problem. And if it is acceptable to you…make that happen. If not, explain why you cannot accommodate the request. So what about customer loyalty and giving away the shop? Customers are not loyal because you give away the shop. They take advantage when you do that! Any way you look at this scenario, you lose! Customers are loyal when you understand and exceed the expectations for their needs, value their time, and outpace your competition. Providing a professional, confident, skilled staff inspires loyalty. Remember you have different types of customers … you have customers who shop by price, by convenience, and by service standards. You can expect loyalty from those who shop by service standards. Price and convenience shoppers are just that…and unless you offer the lowest price or offer the most convenient way to shop (physical location or online including such things like web layout, credit card considerations, security, readability, etc.) loyalty is not a consideration. * When your ads and services are targeted, specific, and clear you make it easy for customers to identify and do business with you. * When you organize your information systems so that you can gather and use customer information without making the customer repeat or redo information previously collected, you shorten the time of service. * When you think you are seeing discomfort or discontent, ask questions! Don’t guess… what you are seeing may be unrelated to your service. A brief thank-you for doing business with us is a nice way to say goodbye. My list is in no way comprehensive, but it does offer some very basic things to consider when incorporating customer’s loyalty into your service model. Servicing customers with confident, professional, skilled practitioners in a comfortable environment is one way to increase loyalty. Of course there are other ways but that will require your due diligence :) I am Amanda Grihm, author of Rat Bastard Customer Care: Committed to the Fix! Although this is very basic information, my friend found the exchange to be helpful. I hope this will be helpful to some of you reading this post, as well.