Are You/ Your Business Customer Centric

Is customer service top of mind of your business and employees? With competition in all Industries being highly competitive what are you, your business and employees doing to differentiate yourself from your competition? Are you speaking with your employees to find out what is working and not working to be able to provide the stellar and WOW Customer Service Experience?

There are not many (if any) businesses that do not have another company offering the same or similar service/ product. What has differentiated the companies that have succeeded or failed? There have been small, medium and large companies that have failed due to lack of service, perceived service and bad reviews. When is the last time you ate at a Restaurant with one or 2 stars? Stayed at a Hotel with Bad Reviews? Invested in a Company that continued to get bad press? Or bought a product from a store that had bad service reviews?

So, what does customer service mean to you, your employees and your clients? Are you talking about customer service in your business? What are you providing your employees so that they can exceed their/yours/and the CLIENTS expectations? Are you all on the same page? Good customer service means different things to different people.

I recently did an exercise with a group looking at what customer service meant to us. I have included part of the list below. Please feel free to add what is important to you in the comment section.

• Knowledgeable
• Going above and beyond
• Connections (connect clients to people that will be beneficial for them to meet)
• Genuine
• Owning the Issue
• Honesty
• Dependable
• Setting Clear Expectations
• Putting yourself in their shoes
• Empathetic/ Sympathetic
• Under promise and over deliver
• Exceed expectations
• Kindness/ Courteous
• Responsive
• Proactive
• Provide solutions/ Know what is important to the client
• No surprises
• Clear communication
• Empowered to make decisions
• Do the right thing
• Thanking them for their business    
•  Finding out an answer if you are not in the know  (do not pretend to know 'everything') 

Generally consumers are willing to spend a few extra dollars for excellent customer service, and turn into repeat clients.

Good luck in becoming an ambassador in Customer Service.

“Customers may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel” – Unknown

Keep moving forward.