What is customer service?

If your in sales, and you probably are if your reading this. Then at some point in your career someone has asked you this "what is customer service?"

Here is my answer.

Customer service is EXACTLY what the customer thinks is service.

Long before you even get a chance to meet the customer they have "painted" a picture in their mind of what you should do for them. It's this perfect picture that they will hold you to and use it to evaluate how well you are or are not servicing them. This picture is based on all of the previous experiences they have had when making a similar purchase.

Notice how none of this is based on you.

So what do you do?

1. Start by interviewing your customer. Find out the purchasing timeline, and what need they think this want will satisfy.
   
   
2. Stay attentive to their body language. If it's a phone conversation you will have to listen to the tone of their voice. But inflection and body language are big indicators of how much they are paying attention to you. Lack of attention should draw a red flag!
   
   
3. Adjust your personality. People like to buy from someone they can relate with. Small adjustments to your demeanor could be the difference between landing the sale and loosing it.
   
   
4. Find their Hot Button. I can guarantee that everyone has one. It's the triggering factor for them to make this purchase. It could be envy, greed, or social status. Whatever it is make sure that you push it often.

The Selling Point: Customer service is different for every single customer. Those that do it well have patience and can pay attention to the non-verbal cues they receive. Establishing great service early on will perpetuate the positive customer experience and generate more returning visits. Customers who return will remember the outstanding service they received the first time. In short you need to take that "painted" picture of customer service and make it the Mona Lisa.


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Customer Service, Customer Retention, Retail, Relationship Building, Finding customer hot buttons