Three Ways To Keep Customers Loyal And Satisfied

It doesn’t matter if you’re in the construction industry, own a large corporation, or have a small family business you run out of your home.  If you’re running any kind of business, happy customers are the key to your success.  Custom Smart Homes ratings reflect how much we do to keep our customers happy, and learning how to keep people pleased can take a little time and practices.  Every business has their own unique products and services to offer their clients, but all essentially need to do the same things to keep them happy.  If you want to keep smiles and your customer’s faces, make sure you follow these tips for excellent customer service.

Show loyalty

Do you expect your employees to be loyal to your company?  If so, don’t you think your employees should extend that loyalty to your customers?  If you want to keep customers happy and keep their business, you need to be as loyal to them as they are to you.  If you have a repeat custom that’s unhappy with a product or service, don’t hesitate to give them a refund or offer them products or services for free.  If you them that you appreciate their business, they’ll continue to be your loyal and happy customer.

Make promises you can keep

A good rule in the business world is to never promise something to a customer if you aren’t 100% sure you can follow through.  A promise can be anything from offering a money back guarantee to promising to contact someone at a certain time.  Nothing makes a customer more unhappy and wary of businesses than feeling like they’ve been misled, and if you want to keep your customers you should avoid committing to something unless you’re sure you can do it.

Be genuine

People can have a big pet peeve about dealing with rude employees, but they also don’t like dealing with employees they think are laying it on a bit too thick.  Train your employees to talk to your customer like they’re people, and not like they’re getting lines fed to them from an employee handbook.  People appreciate honesty and genuine enthusiasm when they’re talking to employees, so you should teach your employees to be friendly and authentic when they’re dealing with customers.

Three Phrases Employees Should Never Say to a Customer

If there’s one thing that Lizzio Development Group knows, it’s good customer service.  Customer Service is essential for every business regardless of what industry they're working on, and your employees should be trained on what behavior is acceptable and what isn't.  Sometimes phrases that seem innocuous to us can seem very rude to some customers.  When you're dealing with your customers, be sure to avoid using these phrases.

Calm Down

When a customer is angry about something telling them to calm down is one of the worst things you could say to them.  When you say the words "calm down", they hear "your feelings aren't justified", and they'll only get angrier from there.  Sometimes all people need to calm down is to rant.  Let the customer finish their tirade, and after you're sure their finished engage them in a conversation to solve the problem.

I don't know

You may just be the guy working the cashier, but to the customer you're the guy who should know the answer to their questions.  Customers expect every employee to be knowledgeable about the store's products and services.  Hearing an "I don't know" from an employee makes the customer think that the employee is incompetent, or that the business doesn't train their employees well.  Instead of saying I don't know, say "Let me find out".  Those four words let the customer know that you're dedicated to helping them, and willing to learn information to help them.

Hold On

Even if you have a line of customers out the door, satisfying the customer in front of you should be your top priority.  If you tell a customer to hold on so that you can serve someone else, they're going to think that you don't care about their patronage.  Instead of saying hold on, ask to excuse yourself for a moment and assure them that their needs are important to you.

Three Tips For Improving Customer Interactions

At Custom Smart Homes we know about what makes a good business successful.  Having outstanding products and services will always help, but when it comes to professional success having good customer service is key.  If you want to improve the way you and your employees talk to customers, follow these tips

Know Your Customers

If a regular walked up to you at work, would you remember what goods or services they usually ask for?  Would you be able to remember their name? Returning customers like coming to your business, and they'll be even more inclined to keep coming back and to recommend you to their friends if you and your employees are friendly and personable with them.  A friendly smile and a greeting that contains their name can do wonders for customer service.

Never Argue

A customer calls your customer service line claiming that she paid too much for an item.  They thought that they had a good deal, but they came home and saw a sales flyer that said that the item was 20% off.  You're almost certain that she purchased the item after the sale ended, but she still insists on getting her money back.  Some customer service workers would try to explain to the person why they're wrong, but that wouldn't resolve anything.  You should never get into an argument with a customer over the price of something, and you should do your best to make sure that it doesn't get to that point.  An argument with a customer is an unwinnable one, and you could end up losing their business if they're offended.  Instead try to diffuse the situation without resulting to bickering.

Don't Shy Away From Special Services

Today there are a lot of retailers that refuse to cater to special requests from customers because of their company policy.  The fact that a customer cared about your services enough to ask for something different shows that they're loyal and a special exception to your usual customer service rules is worth their patronage.  Remember that  it's only an exception for a single customer, and that you aren't making a new policy

Three Things To Avoid When Trying To Get Ratings and Reviews

Sometimes the sleekest ad campaigns and marketing techniques are no match for good PR from your customers.  At Custom Smart Homes reviews and ratings play an important role in improving our services and getting other potential customers.  There are a lot of businesses that try to get their customers to write ratings and reviews, but there are some seemingly helpful things you can do that end up doing more harm than good.

Avoid Over Using Incentives

A lot of businesses offer their customers something in return if they write up reviews and rate their business.  This may seem like a good way to get your customers to offer their opinions, but if you want genuine reviews you should avoid relying on incentives.  There are quite a few of your loyal customers that would be more than happy to write a review for your business, and their answers won't be affected by whether you're giving them free things or not.  A free item or service once in a while can be a great way to drum up some reviews, but if you rely on it too much you won't get the kind of genuine reviews and ratings that you want.

Avoid Pushing Yelp

Yelp is one of the most trusted consumer review and rating sites around, and there isn't a business owner in 2013 that doesn't want to have a Yelp profile that's full of positive reviews.  You may feel tempted to encourage your customers to go on Yelp and write a positive review for your business, but having your customers sign up for Yelp to post one review can hurt you in the long run.  Yelp spam filters usually remove reviews that are posted from inactive accounts, so your customers will be doing work for nothing.  If you have some regulars that are dedicated Yelpers trust them to do it on their own.

Avoid Posting Responses Right Away

Promptness is an important factor in customer service, but you should let a little time pass before you or an employee responds to a negative review or rating.  A lot of rating and review websites operate like a forum, and anybody is free to register and offer their opinions about a poster's review.  A lot of businesses have their own accounts on these websites so that they can publicly respond to their customers who have given them negative reviews.  If done properly this can be an excellent way for you to show your customers that you care about their opinions, but if these are written in the heat of the moment you may not come across as you'd like to.  A little bit of time can do a lot to help take the emotion out of a situation and provide a lot of clarity on the best way to respond.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Customer Reviews

A little listening goes a long way

Whether you're reading negative reviews online or talking to an unhappy customer, dealing with complaints about your business can be difficult to hear.  Complaints are an inevitable part of doing business, and the ways that companies handle caring for their dissatisfied customers can tell you a lot about their business practices.  When you visit CustomSmartHomes.com you can read glowing reviews from their customers who love their new eco-friendly smart homes, and all Custom Smart Home reviews the company receives are used to improve their services so they can better satisfy their customer's needs. 

It's important to acknowledge problems and make sure that customers are happy with their products and services.  Customer reviews can give both business owners and their employees important information about how their customers view their products and services, and could even show you some creative ways for your to improve your business.  Here are some tips businesses can follow to ensure that they can get truly get the most out of their customer reviews.

Listen

Many employees working in customer service are quick to start speaking to unhappy customers about how the company will handle their problems.  Their immediate reaction could help reassure customers that their problems will be quickly dealt with, but it's more likely to make them feel like your company doesn't want to listen to their customers. Tell your employees to listen to customers before they begin talking about how your company can fix their problem.  Your customers will feel like the company cares about individual customer needs, and your employees will be better equipped to solve your customer's problems.

Look for Patterns

Does it seem like complaint amounts double during a certain time of year, or that a certain department always seems to receive more complaints than others?  Those aren't mere coincidences, if you're seeing the same problems popping up in the same areas it's time to focus on improving your business practices.

Don't Ignore Certain Complaints

When you have a customer that seems to do nothing but complain it can be easy to write them off as being difficult or overly picky.  But it's important to examine every customer complaint, regardless of how many times you've heard it before. Regardless of who is making the complaint or what the complaint is about, you need to regard it as a legitimate problem and work hard to fix it.