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Customer focus

Written by: Robyn Pollard

Article Overview: Your customers are the number one priority of your business. Only businesses with a strong customer focus will survive and thrive into the next decade.

Customer focus

When I mention customer focus - what does this mean to you? How do you think that your business rates in relation to customer focus? It may surprise you when I tell you that customer service can make or break a business. How long could you go without a customer and the business still survive? At the end of the day a business is there for the customers.

My husband and I went to a coffee shop a little while ago and ordered our coffee from the counter. This place I knew had great coffee - but I was not greeted with a smile. They told us to take a seat and they would bring it over to us. Fifteen minutes after this we still had not received the coffee. I went up to the counter to see when it would come as I still had lots more shopping to do and did not want to waste the rest of the afternoon waiting for a coffee. They told me it would come when it was ready. They were teenagers serving and it felt to me that they liked the power of telling the customer to wait and not to cause them any trouble (just sit down and it will come soon). I did sit down again for another 10 minutes and still the coffee did not come. At that point I told them that I wanted my money back and went to another shop to have my coffee - which incidentally served me with a smile and within a couple of minutes.

It is a manager's responsibility to know what good customer service is for their business and then set the standard for the rest of the staff to follow with standards for good customer service. Training needs to be given to staff so that they can focus on the customer and give them great service. You can't expect your staff to know what good customer service is. Staff dealing with the customers should have a good feel for customer's reactions. Customers are very discerning and it is the business that gives exceptional customer service that will prosper in the next decade. Make sure that you look at the different levels of customer service for your business. What is basic, what is expected, what is desired and what is the unanticipated?

What do you feel like when you are not looked after as a customer? Do you go back to that business? Remember that a smile is understood in all languages. Ask yourself: "What are the things in your business that will make a customer feel important?" Make sure that your staff have the confidence to look after the customers well. You as a manager can make sure that this happens with the appropriate training and systems in place. If staff are worried about making a mistake, then they lack the self-esteem and confidence to service the customers well.

To find out more about Moving Forward Business Coach, visit the website at: www.movingforwardcoaching.com.au

© Robyn Pollard 2005

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Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Re: Paypal process $315 million in payments per day. - I agree with you David, their Customer relations suck. This mean other payment systems like 2CO and WORLDPAY should work on their customers relations to take more slice of the market.
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