What Does Your Customer Mean to You?
Remember that first sale you had when you began your business? Or the first time you made a sale in general? Remember the joy you had, the commitment you felt to that customer, the willingness you had to do anything, almost anything to keep that customer happy and maybe even win their loyalty?
What does your customer mean to you?
If, as the leader, you can answer that question from way down in your gut, and live that way so that you model it to your employees, you’ll most likely be giving great customer service.
When you think of your customers, how do you feel? What do they mean to you?
When you hear a certain customer is on the phone and wants to talk to you, do you ever feel dread, distaste, or a strong desire to avoid the person for whatever “justifiable reason”? Do you send the call to voice mail or to someone else on your staff?
Your customer has become your enemy!
You would never consciously say that or rationally think it, but when those feelings seep into your company via a “situation,” you are responding to your customer as though they are the enemy, and your business may be in trouble as a result.
Or let’s put it another way…
Maybe your business can exist and even possibly grow with occasions when the customer is the enemy, but the real differentiator in business is when each individual in the company knows, at their core, what the customer really means to the company and, thus, means to him or her.
If, in each interaction that an employee has with a customer, s/he treats that person as though they are his/her best friend, the choices s/he makes will be felt by the customer to be something special. That’s when a customer says, “Wow, that was easy” or “They get me” or “Nice!”
That’s what sets you apart from other companies they may try, especially if they feel that they were emotionally engaged with you during that experience with you.
Sincerely,