Think Customer Service. No matter what you buy, your response to the company involved isn’t how good the food is, it’s how their staff respond to you. It’s all about customer service. What turns a person into a customer? It’s the relationship.

Where Businesses Get It Wrong

I read somewhere that 95% of companies fail in the first 5 years after starting a business, and in the next five years again, 95% of the remaining 5% still fail. Not a good statistic, if you ask me.

Most of the companies didn’t care about the customers.

I stand to be corrected, but that’s the harsh truth. Some Nigerian companies are guilty of this. Let me give a personal example. My grandmother returned from London a week ago and lodged at our house for a while. After some days, it was my job to take her to the airport so she could return back to the village. The flight was to take off by 3:15pm so I had to wait all day at the airport. Around 1pm it was time to check in. What happened? One of the staff whispered in my ears that they had cancelled the flight! And they weren’t going to say anything! Ok, so it’s not new. What was new was the fact that the staff knew about the cancelled flight long before and they should have told us, but they were willing to take a gamble. That, I swore, would be the last time I would ever board that company’s flight. They had lost a customer.

How Far Would You Go To Provide Good Customer Service?

How far are you willing to go for a customer? Would you take insults and put-downs just to please a customer? I used to pride myself in the fact that I don’t entertain rubbish from people… until I started to lose important customers. Formerly I wouldn’t care if you were the president of the internet, if you messed up, I wouldn’t kiss your a**. But now? You have to ask? I’m ready to go miles for just one customer.

I have learnt by experience that most of my clients bring jobs my way because they like me. 😀 I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I have an easy going personality. That has brought clients I didn’t dare dream about my way.

No matter what kind of business you’re involved in, remember, it’s your customers that make you. Every musician knows that it’s the listeners that make you and you need them, not the other way around. So also in business, the customer makes you. A bus driver will not be a bus driver if there are no passengers to drive to work.

Not everything should be about Money.

Money is one of the primary reasons people get involved in business. They want to make money. Don’t get me wrong, I want to make money. Sometimes words like friendship, service, trust should mean something to you. If you do it like that, I guarantee you, the money will come.

Sometimes all we need to do for someone is to go the extra mile. What do you think makes customers come back to you time and time again? You may not be the best in town, but they are comfortable working with you. You made them feel welcome. Feel at home.

Think of your business. Think of your customers, whether 1 or 100, and think about what you can do for them to show you appreciate their patronage. What have you been doing that is bad for business? Remember, the customer is king. Never snarl or exchange words. If you feel like hitting someone, just bite your tongue so hard you bleed…

It’s all in the name of customer service. How hard can it be?

Cheers.
Z