Customer Service in Sales -Do you go the extra mile ?

Are you finding a lack of good customer service these days while out shopping or while splashing out on a dinner in a restaurant or even in your local bank or on arrival at a hotel while away ?

If you are working within customer service Do you go the extra mile with your customers or clients to make them feel important ? Do you smile and make them feel welcome and want to return or are you like a girl that served me the other day in Northam Western Australia ?

She looked so miserable like she wanted to be anywhere else rather than serve us and it was off putting and is bad for business as most people prefer to shop where they are greeted with a smile rather than a scowl .

A genuine smile along with a friendly hello doesn't cost you anything yet can brighten a customers day more than you might ever realize and have them happy to return at a later date.

Customers that are greeted with a cheery smile wherever they are will be happy to return to your business & even tell others about how nice and friendly you and your staff are and what a great service you provide .

Customer service can make or break your business as well as lose you a lot of money if you are not careful and leave you wondering why you are losing customers fast as well as not getting many new customers coming through the door

Last night we decided to treat ourselves to a dearer meal than usual at the Matsos Brewery in Broome & wished we had left after our beer as the customer service wasn't the best & our meal served on a tray was not value for money.

I had to ask if someone would take our order after waiting 30 minutes for a waitress to approach us !

Customer service is the provision of service to Customers before, during and after a purchase.

According to Turban et al. (2002),“Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation."

From the point of view of an overall sales process customer service plays an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue

It is giving your customers your attention not making them wait while you chat to your friends on your phone or in the shop, or serving them with a scowl on your face & in a grumpy mood.

It involves listening to their complaints & doing your best to sort the problem out & turn an upset customer into a happy customer so they will leave your business in a good frame of mind & be happy to recommend your services to others.

There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.
ROGER STAUBACH

Do what you do so well that they will
want to see it again and bring their friends.
WALT DISNEY

People expect good service but few are willing to give it.
ROBERT GATELY

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

Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will.
KATE ZABRISKIE

Sales without Customer Service
is like stuffing money into a pocket full of holes.
DAVID TOOMAN

As far as customers are concerned you are the company. This is not a burden, but the core of your job. You hold in your hands the power to keep customers coming back – perhaps even to make or break the company.”
If you want to be creative in your company, your career, your life, all it takes is one easy step… the extra one. When you encounter a familiar plan, you just ask one question: What ELSE could we do?”
- Dale Dauten

It starts with respect. If you respect the customer as a human being, and truly honor their right to be treated fairly and honestly, every thing else is much easier.”

Train your staff to be great at customer service as it is your business that will suffer or grow depending on how we are treated by them . Make sure they greet everyone with a welcome smile .

Do the training yourself yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isn't) on a regular basis . Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions so they can do it on the spot.

It might be an idea to have someone do a secret shop in your place of business to see how they are treated by your staff. Are your staff especially younger ones spending more time on their phone rather than helping customers ? We see this so often everywhere we go sadly .

If someone walks into your store and asks you to help them find something, do you just say "It's in Aisle 2". or do you lead the customer to the item ? Or even wait and see if he has questions about it, or further needs.

Teach your staff about Body Language/Communication – Most of the communication that we relay to others is done through body language. If we have a negative body language when we interact with others it can show our lack of care. Two of the most important parts of positive body language are smiling, and eye contact. Make sure to look your customers in the eye. It shows that we are listening to them, not at them. And then of course smiling is just more inviting than someone who has a blank look on their face.

Whatever the extra step may be in your business if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people to make sure they visit your business.

These days young people seem to spend more time on their mobile phones leaving customers waiting which is really annoying so they need to appreciate the customer comes first.

Have you had a great experience with someone in customer service where they have gone the extra mile?

Why not share it with us!

We have been watching Undercover Boss where the CEO of the company pretends to be a new employee to see how their staff are with their customers.

Most of the staff have been great , however a while back there was a case in a bed shop where the girl in the shop was needing some training in customer service.