These customer-satisfaction laws will keep you ahead of your competition.
1. Treat the customers you have as though they're prospects.
Basically saying that you haven’t got the job yet, even if you’re a return customer. Treat each job as it is your first job.
2. View customers as partners-members of your team.
Customers are your partners. If you didn’t have this partner, you wouldn’t be in business. That means being firm and fair with them. Once they understand you are fair with them, being firm in your price and in business practices should fall into place by the example you show.
3. Consider recruitment as serious business - and hire only the best.
Hiring the best doesn’t happen overnight. What qualifications do you offer? Do they take tests? What sales skills do they have? Do you require certain certifications? Do they have to be licensed or certified? What is your employee turnover rate?
4. Give your staff members the tools they need to build skills and develop professionally. Evaluate them on what they accomplish, not hours worked.
Employees need to have goals to work towards. If not, they are just robot labor. The clearer path they have of their position in the company, the more achievable they will be focusing on what they are supposed to do.
CFO: What happens if we train them and they leave? CEO: What happens if we train them and they stay?
5. Prepare for the inevitable conflicts that arise in any customer relationship with this thought in mind: "It's how you handle problems that sets one professional or organization apart".
Do you have a Vision Statement - where do you want your business to go.
What is your mission statement - this is the road we are going to take to get to our vision.
What is your culture statement - Core values. The rules of the game of our business
Having different types of statements within your company price book that your employee has readily available can reduce many of the assumptions that employees may have with your company.
6. Invite customer complaints instead of just responding to what comes in.
How are you going to continually upgrade your company’s flaws? Are you sending out personal handwritten letters? Are you making that personal phone call to discuss the situation? Do you send out self addressed envelopes with questionnaires on what you can do to better serve your customers??
7. Foster exchanges among your organization's groups and individuals to get their ideas on how to better satisfy customers.
When was the last time you sat down with your employees and listened to their opinion? Many employees, if not spoken to, will just leave a company without saying anything or complaining. How many employees are asked, “Are you happy working here?” by the business owner or CEO out of the blue? Or, “What can I do to make your job more pleasurable?”