Posted by Sheila Knott on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 10:40 AM
Simple Business Solution: Improve the Areas You Can Control 
Small businesses, as well as most large corporations cannot control what the politicians in Washington are doing or not doing for us. We certainly cannot control what is happening with the starched collars on Wall Street. We cannot control who calls us, emails us or who walks in our doors and inquires about our products or services. What we can control is how we treat our customers and prospects. Good customer service is a simple concept that is sadly not utilized to its full potential in today's companies. The bar has steadily been lowered regarding what is considered good quality customer service. Fortunately for most small businesses, this represents a low cost, high return opportunity for improvement. Here are a few ideas that can go a long way toward raising your company's reputation for high quality customer service:
• Treat every customer or prospect as an individual and work to discover their needs.
• Rather than sell your products to a prospect or customer, help them to buy.
• Develop relationships with existing customers and get to know their businesses better. This will help you recommend products they are not currently purchasing from you that may help improve their production, quality, costs or all of the above.
• The next person who walks in your door or calls your business could be your largest customer or prospect, so treat them as such.
As you implement these basic customer service tips, think of even more, and ask your customers how YOU can improve for THEM. These ideas are fundamentally basic, common sense ideas, but the discipline to implement them and make them an everyday mindset is the challenge. Luckily, this is a challenge that, if overcome, can boost sales, improve your company's reputation, and keep customers coming back - all without a dime spent from your marketing budget!