Article by Chelsea Lamb, Businesspop.net
It is no surprise that when customers are happy, your business thrives. Keeping customers satisfied and engaged takes commitment and a consistent ability to adapt and pivot. It is important to be able to maintain the integrity of your business, but flexibility is an imperative trait that can help small business owners stay alive in a competitive market.
Identify Customer Needs and Preferences
The best way to stay abreast of client needs is to simply ask. There are many ways to ask your customer base what their needs and preferences are: You can use surveys, email inquiries, follow-up texts, etc.
What you ask is also an important factor. Avoid close-ended questions that require a simple yes or no answer. The more you get customers to talk, the more you can glean from their experience with your business. Rather than ask “Did you find everything you needed?” ask a business-specific question like “What is missing from our menu/store? Or, do you have any favorites we should think about adding?” It may also help to offer incentives for filling out questionnaires. Another way to improve customer satisfaction and relationship with clients is to offer exceptional customer service.
Be a Customer Service Superstar
Customer service can make or break a small business. Often, the simplest way to offer excellent service is to employ the Golden Rule: How would you want to be treated by a business? Offer customers a quality guarantee. Or, depending on your specific business, consider a time-limited maintenance offer. Some businesses do well with free consultation for customers to help them feel connected and supported.
In your daily interactions with customers, present yourself in an open, friendly way. This does not require you to be extremely extroverted — just take a moment to smile and ask how people are doing and really listen to what they have to say. The simplest gestures make a significant difference in the way your customers feel about you and your business. How you structure and operate your business can impact the way you function daily, as well as your stress levels.
Save Time and Simplify Your Business
Reducing stress and keeping your format simple can help you stay focused on customer engagement and satisfaction. Often, small businesses can opt to file as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) so that they can benefit from the flexibility and tax advantages, as well as the reduced paperwork. There are different regulations depending on which state you are in, so check prior to filing. Keep in mind that the state of California requires that LLCs file an annual Statement of Information. To save yourself time and legal fees, you can hire a service to file for your business.
As you build customer relations, consider adding time-saving business ideas such as hiring a marketing consultant or freelance writer to create content for your website. By outsourcing these tasks, you can spend more time maintaining great client engagement.
By carefully considering your customers’ needs and wants and committing to the strategies above, you’ll be able to grow your business effectively.
Thank you, Chelsea for your amazing article! I totally agree with you. Excellent customer service must be the core of any business model. When it comes to customer service, the size of the business doesn’t matter at all. Whether you’re a big-sized or small company, your customer service goals are still the same. Thanks for highlighting that how a business owner structures and operates their business can affect the way they function regularly.
Yes, we find it’s very important to have great customer service! People won’t always remember how you treated them but they will remember how they felt.