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The
best way to let your customers know how seriously committed you are is for
you, the business owner, to tell them. Make it a
point to have customer contact and ask about their experiences.
People are impressed when they see that the business owner is taking
important time out of his/her busy schedule to address an issue.
Here are some ways you can let customers know how seriously you are
taking their needs and concerns:
Create
a suggestion box and place it in a prominent and visible location in your
business. Periodically stand by the entrance for
an hour or so. Introduce yourself to clients and
direct customers to the box.
Create
a personalized customer commitment with your team. You
may decide to have 10 commitments instead of commandments (i.e. 1.
An employee who receives a complaint “owns” the complaint, 2.
We adhere to uncompromising levels of professionalism, hygiene and
friendliness 3. We promise an immediate response
detailing actions to be taken to correct any problems). The
point is to identify and make explicit your guiding rules to customer
satisfaction, for customers and employees. Once
you have defined your guiding principles, make the most of them by posting
them in visible places and including them in communications to
customers.
Conduct
a feedback session whereby a qualified facilitator takes your customers
through a meeting and elicits the kind of information you want to know.
Send thank you notes with your signature to all of the participants
explaining the outcome of the information you gathered the actions that will
be taken as a result. Don’t forget to thank
them. Remember to delegate. You
do not have to write the notes, but it should be your signature.
Take note, people are most impressed when they see a change as a
result of their time and effort. To really be
committed to excellent service is to take the feedback seriously.
One of the fastest ways to send your customers
scurrying to your competitors is to ask them to take the time to give
you information and for you to not do anything with it.
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