The 3 Questions Small Businesses Should Consider for Customer Satisfaction

July 30, 2019

The old adage “the customer is always right” is probably not new to you. While it may be cliché, there’s a reason the saying continues to endure. In any type of business, adopting a “customers first” mentality can strengthen relationships, lead to repeat business, and help generate referrals. In addition to helping your business grow and thrive, putting your clientele first can also provide feelings of immense personal satisfaction. When you adopt a service-oriented focus and are committed to ensuring positive experiences with every interaction, you can also have an impact on your community. This creates a ripple effect that can, itself, help drive future business.

While the specific actions you take to serve your customers will depend on your industry, proximity to the people who use your products or services, and what you offer, there are some general service tenets that apply to any type of public-facing role. Consider the questions below, and evaluate whether, and how, you can best use your answers to help strengthen your commitment to helping your customer base, your employees, and the communities you serve.

1). How Do You Connect and Communicate with Customers?

Nearly everyone has at least one story about having received poor service from a company in the past. Most of the time, those poor service experiences boil down to miscommunications or simply a failure to communicate. The way you engage your customers is critical in their perception of how well you are delivering on the customer service promise. Many service problems can be minimized or avoided entirely by deliberately focusing on what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, and how responsive you are when an issue does arise.

What You’re Saying

However – as a small business owner, it’s a different story. You have the opportunity to earn equity in your own business for your future and your family’s future with every customer you serve. What, exactly, is equity? Put simply, your business’s equity is the value of your business’s assets minus its liabilities. For businesses that serve customers’ needs over the long term, there is also valuable equity in the underlying book of business.

How You’re Saying It

Look at the methods you’re using to communicate. In some cases, it’s appropriate to use email or other written means to communicate with customers. However, in other cases, initiating a phone call or a face-to-face meeting can lower the risk of confusion or misunderstandings, and can make your customers feel more valued and appreciated.

The Importance of Being Responsive

Being responsive when customers have questions or problems can go a long way in solidifying your reputation as being customer-service oriented. Put simply, people want to be heard and know that they’ve been heard. Even if you cannot answer all of the customer’s questions or cannot immediately solve their problem, reach out to acknowledge receipt of their call or written communication and let them know they’re a priority. Additionally, keeping them apprised as you work to address or resolve their issue can go a long way in terms of customer service satisfaction.

2). Do Your Employees Understand Their Roles in Serving Your Customers?

If you have one or more employees helping you in your business, everyone plays a part in the customer experience. That’s true whether or not your employees are in customer-facing roles.

Make sure your staff is trained appropriately to perform their jobs. Putting in the time and effort on the front end, being available to answer questions, and having documented, repeatable processes and procedures can help lower the risk of customer service problems. Don’t underestimate the importance of training employees on what to do when problems do occur, and don’t make assumptions that staff will know how to handle unexpected situations.

When everyone in your organization is focused on your customers’ success, you’re doing more than adding value to the customers’ lives; you’re also enhancing your employees’ job satisfaction. That, in turn, can help drive continued and future business success. By investing in your employees, you’re investing in their futures and in your own.

3). Is Your Business Plan Customer-Centric?

Your business plan is designed to help you succeed, giving you a road map to follow to reach your business goals. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking your business plan should be all about you, detailing how you will benefit personally and professionally from growing and expanding your business. Instead, a well-crafted business plan is one designed with your customers in mind. If you don’t put your customers first, you’ll likely have a tough time realizing any sustainable or long-term growth.

Start with a clear definition of what an ideal customer is. Describe your target market, identifying the types of people or businesses you intend to serve. Naturally, your business plan should include actionable steps that can help you reach your goals. For example, the “Marketing Strategy” or similar section of your business plan should address how you will reach new people and how you intend to convert prospects to clients.

Be sure to also evaluate how those steps and goals impact both your current customer and future prospective customers. Think twice before adopting a business plan that is focused on reaching and engaging new customers at the expense of the people or companies you’re already serving; doing so can negatively impact customer retention and can inadvertently help your competition by driving current clientele away.

Active Listening Improves Customer Satisfaction

Finally, you can’t operate in a vacuum if you want to truly adopt a customer-focused business model. If you ask your customers to provide feedback, what you do with that feedback matters. It can be tough to receive and accept criticism from customers, but actually listening and responding to what your customers are trying to tell you can help you improve processes, retain existing customers, and grow your business.

Of course, many companies say they put their customers first. However, when it comes to customer service, their actions leave something to be desired. Failing to follow through on customer promises or providing poor service are surefire ways to see a business plummet. For companies that do it right — organizations that are committed to finding innovative ways to serve their customers — there are both tangible and intangible rewards to be had including a larger customer base and a positive business reputation.

If small business entrepreneurship is your dream, consider an opportunity as an Allstate Agency Owner where you will be able to help customers protect what matters most in their lives. Not only will you be able to make a difference in someone’s life, but you will also be your own boss and earn equity in the business you build with the opportunity to sell or pass it down some day. To learn more, visit www.allstategent.com or contact a recruiter today at 877.711.1015.

Sources

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/03/05/putting-the-customer-first-is-good-for-business/#7b48d8892b9e
https://www.fastcompany.com/1801256/3-ways-put-your-customer-first
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246391
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickhull/2013/10/04/entrepreneurs-should-be-community-leaders/#48063b213325
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226974

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