Stephan Bevan’s Blog

How you treat your customers WILL not only be your trademark, but it will also determine if your company will survive the 95% failure rate of business within the first 5 years. Starting Immediately is the only way you’ll get an edge on your competition. We have all had the experience of atrocious customer service, and we know it isn’t fun, but how many of your customers have felt that way about you?

Outstanding Customer Service is all about COMMON SENSE & COMMON COURTESY (which isn’t so common any more). I am always amazed at how many companies will have a completely apathetic person at the end of the phone taking calls from customers who already aren’t happy, but usually just succeed in pissing them off further. It makes you want to reach through the phone and shake them. Its a great opportunity to turn an irate customer into a repeat customer, but as long as companies are willing to hire anyone, they will continue to lose business to the competition. I see this with a lot of large companies who are just trying to fill the roll at the cheapest cost.

I’ve also noticed that a lot of mega-corps are outsourcing their customer service to India. It obviously pays for them to do this, but again I have observed the challenges that this can also create. It is frustrating to call in to a company and get a different customer service person every time you call and have to explain your situation all over again. If someone makes an exception for you, the next time you call in, the new person will just refer to the company policy which states: “You can’t do that!” Poor service is also all to common with government agencies & monopolies. That’s another reason why I hate unions too! Where we live north of Toronto, if our garbage & recycling isn’t in the exact specifications that they state in their “POLICY”, they will just leave it there. How pathetic!! It exemplifies how most people are more interested in being lazy than in being a contributor to society (common sense not so common).

When we finally run into someone who’s providing us with outstanding service, we want to stay on and keep talking to them, because its so refreshing. It brightens our day. Treat every customer as if they are your ONLY customer and they will come back for more because you have met some of their basic human needs – the need to be heard (the need to be right), appreciated and respected. If you check out our eBay feedback (ID:adventurecapitalism), people were stunned by how much we cared, and some even said “overwhelmed” by the level of service, speed, & product quality they received. Why did we do that? Because we treated people how we would want to be treated. That simple. Period. Its not rocket science, but common sense is something you either have or you don’t.

If you intend on growing your small business, I URGE you to read Blair Singer’s “The ABC’s of Building a Business Team That Wins® – The Invisible Code of Honor That Takes Ordinary People and Turns Them into a Championship Team!” Come up with a Code of Honor for your company, and have any potential employees agree to it before you agree to hire them. That way they can be held accountable to the code, and you can weed out the weakest links for those who violate it, and CYA in the process.

A friend of mine runs an executive magazine. She does not have money to waste, but is happy to pay her staff better than good to get the right people and it shows in the results. It allows her to get more done with fewer people, and run a tighter, more loyal team.

It pays to have exceptional customer service. Your gauge is in repeat customers. Your current customers will also spread the news if they have either been treated exceptionally well or exceptionally poor. Build your business right – right from the beginning, and your company will support you in your vision – if you create a Code of Honor that honors people, and you are ALWAYS the first to honor the code.

Have all your employees read “How to Win Friends & Influence People”, and they will gain common sense that will last them a lifetime, and you will reap the rewards through repeat business.