There’s a lot more to customer service than simply having a sign on your wall that says: ‘The customer is always right’. For any business to be truly customer-focused, everyone from front-line staff to the chief executive should strive to meet and exceed service standards.

You may offer a quality, well-priced product, but if a customer receives inferior service before, during or after the sale, future sales may be lost. Providing superior customer service in today's competitive marketplace is crucial. Quite simply, customers are your business and lost sales through poor service means you will lose money.

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Providing quality customer service means ensuring your customers are satisfied by consistently providing value in a way that is perceived as valuable by the customer.

To provide quality customer service you need to have a long-term focus. Aim to make quality customer service part of your business culture. Targets for service delivery and customer satisfaction should be included in the business plan and in employee job descriptions. Encourage employees to understand it's the customers who ultimately pay their wages.

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Research and case studies have repeatedly shown many benefits can be achieved by quality customer service.

By keeping customers longer they will spend more with you over time. The cost of maintaining a customer’s loyalty over time is also lower than the cost of gaining a new customer.

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If the service you provide is poor then you are actively driving your customers away. Not only that, it is estimated that a person with a complaint is likely to tell nine other people about their bad experience and name the company involved.

However, one of the nine is probably NOT you. Rather than lodge a complaint with the company involved, Australian customers are more likely to talk with their friends and ‘talk with their feet’ by taking their business elsewhere.

Providing only mediocre customer service also has its costs. Even when things don’t go badly, it is estimated that around 12% to 16% of customers will still leave, because they were not totally satisfied with the service.

It is only through completely satisfying customers that true loyalty is built.

The benefits of quality customer service include:

• increased customer retention
• reduced marketing costs 
• stronger position in the marketplace
• offers a competitive advantage
• increased job satisfaction and staff morale
• increased profits.

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Management must ensure the staff, processes, systems and policies are supportive of each other and focused on meeting customer needs. To provide quality customer service also requires examining what stops this supportive network from working, and a commitment to make necessary changes to end the blockages and problems. 

Consider the following tips for good management:

• provide leadership and aim to make quality customer service part of your business culture
• create a customer service focus across your whole business
• display and follow a Customer Service Charter, which clearly outlines the quality of service to be expected by your customers
• ensure your systems and procedures, incentive programs and feedback mechanisms support the provision of quality customer service
• provide quality customer service to the people you rely on to meet customer needs (internal customers) as well as to paying customers (external customers)
• ensure a system exists to capture regular, reliable feedback from customers about their needs and your service
• welcome customer feedback and complaints as an opportunity to build relationships with your customers and improve your product and/or service
• actively encourage quality customer service and continuous improvement in everything your business does.

If you think implementing customer service is too costly or time-consuming, think again. It doesn't have to be. Walk in to any large bookshop and you will find a selection of practical 'how-to' guides on customer service that you can implement easily. Business Enterprise Centres also have resources and short courses to help you improve customer service.

Implementing customer service in your business can be relatively simple and cost effective.

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To grow your business, you need to let your customers know what you do. What is your business? What is the product or service you are offering?

The initial information you provide is critical to building a relationship with the customer and must be clear, concise and honest. Information can be in a variety of forms including paper, audio, video or website. However, it must clearly explain what you offer. Unclear information may result in lost sales. Here are some handy tips: 

• use plain language and simple diagrams
• don't use technical language, abbreviations or jargon
• information should be accurate and concise, clearly displayed and able to be mailed
• update information regularly
• meet all legislative requirements.

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Businesses are obliged to observe the law. Fair trading laws, among other things, require goods supplied to consumers to be fit for the purpose for which they are supplied. They prohibit conduct that is misleading, deceptive or unconscionable.

Misleading or deceptive conduct

An example of misleading or deceptive conduct is if you give a false or misleading impression about your goods or services and this is so, even if your conduct was unintentional or merely careless.

Unconscionable conduct

Unconscionable conduct is when you take unfair advantage of vulnerable consumers. If you break these laws, an affected consumer could obtain damages from you. Some types of misleading or deceptive conduct may also result in you being prosecuted and fined.

Breaking the law could also ruin your business reputation in the eyes of your customers, lending institutions and industry organisations.

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There really is no secret to business success.

Customers, and customer service. Both go hand-in-hand, and both are essential to the success of your business. Unfortunately, our research has shown us that many small businesses still see customer service as being too hard, too expensive and a luxury only the bigger end of town can afford. To help change these perceptions, we have released The customer service guide booklet.

The Guide helps take some of the hard work out of providing good customer service by turning best practice customer service theory into easy-to-follow actions. It provides practical and affordable solutions for all businesses regardless of how big they are or what they do.

So that’s it, no tricks or magic formulas, just practical advice and common business wisdom that will keep customers happy and your business healthy.

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