Almost every company, whether they’re big or small, has a customer service department – or at the very least an owner who wears the customer service hat on a daily basis.
A small business can actually become big based on their customer service. Before you overlook the idea, let’s take a look at the differences we see in small business customer service versus the customer service we see in the larger companies.
Take advantage of your small business status and go big on customer service
The bigger they are – the harder they fall. This rings true with the larger companies and their customer service. Call a big company with a complaint and you’ll rarely get a satisfactory resolution. In fact, you might hang up before you even reach a human because they keep you embroiled on their automated system until you finally feel defeated and chalk it up to a lesson learned.
Customers can lose interest in a company fast if they don’t get their complaints taken care of in a timely manner. A small business owner can offer personalised complaint resolution in a timely manner.
Policies can be a pitfall. The larger companies generally have some kind of policy in place to protect themselves – the fine print you forgot to read when you bought the product.
The smaller business owner tends to stand by his product or service, or is so intent on growing his business that he delivers above and beyond your expectations to ensure that you remain loyal to his brand.
Make sure you treat every customer the same and provide the kind of customer care you’d want to have if it was you on the other end of the line making the call. Sometimes, you might lose a customer based on his or her dissatisfaction, but don’t let it cause you to tarnish your reputation by being rude or negative with them. Continue being polite, because even though you didn’t meet their needs, they could recommend someone to you in the future whose needs you will meet.
Customer service is meant to help support the customer whenever they have questions or problems. When you address a customer as a person and not a case number they’re more likely to come back and do business with you again.
The small business owner has the advantage in this respect. Their business focus is on their customers and getting them to come back. Larger companies have the luxury of seeing an influx of new customers every day, so they’re sometimes not as concerned with keeping the old ones happy.
Take advantage of your small business status and go big on customer service or it could be the one thing holding you back from achieving growth in your small business.
Article by Christie Lewis
Christie is Practice Manager at Alan Lewis Accountants . Besides accounting, her passion is for all things small business (and blogging, of course). You can contact Christie directly at christie@lewistaxation.com.au.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great topic to see on an Accounting website and very much the overlooked in many businesses. Clients are often consumed with getting new customers, apparently so they can ignore them like those they already have!
As for policies being a pitfall – it probably depends on whether the policy is written to a stated Purpose, and flexible enough to be administered in a way consistent with the purpose, which probably should have some good outcome for the customer and business as a desired outcome.
Thanks for your input, Lindy.
I have to admit, I hesitate to state that policies can be a pitfall as we use and advocate the use of policies and procedures for all of our clients.
One of the strengths of small business is the abiliy to offer some flexibility when it comes to enforcement – dare I say, exersice COMMON SENSE with them. Common sense is often lacking when you are dealing with large corporate bodies and an unempowered staff forced to stick to the rules at all costs.
Your point of a stated Purpose to the policy is exactly what business needs to look at when enforcing it.
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