Taking Care of Your Customers - It's to Your Benefit

Take Care of Your Customers and Business Takes Care of Itself:

Small business marketing strategies differ from large corporate brand strategies in a number of ways. 

While in the corporate world a lot of time and energy is spent on branding and advertising, small businesses are much more effective when their dollars and resources are spent on making sure that their products and services stand out above the rest. 

Establishing a network of loyal, repeat customers who give referrals is a marketing strategy often overlooked by small businesses. While most business owners consider this an important business element, it's often not talked of in terms of marketing and advertising. 

Think about it this way: your customers are often your best marketing tool. Why? They know and have used your products. They know the advantages and disadvantages. And, to other potential customers, they are a better salesperson because they're perceived not to be "selling," just touting the benefits of your product.

If you take care of your customers, you'll gain the following marketing tools:

• Feedback.
• Testimonials.
• Referrals.
• Positive ratings.
• Awards/nominations.

Each of these marketing tools, generated by taking good care of your customers, has its benefits. Feedback or testimonials can be used in your brochures, on your website, or even in your commercials or YouTube videos. Referrals will give you an inside connection with new, potential customers. Awards and nominations will help your business and services get recognized, and establish credibility within your area or industry. And, while it's not exactly a marketing tool, you can't overstate the value of repeat business—it keeps the money coming in!

Taking Care of Your Customers Does Mean Sacrifice:

Occasionally, taking care of your customers is going to cost money. Whether you replace an item lost in shipping out of pocket or accept a return after the policy term, you're spending your resources to keep your customer happy and keep their business.

Some business owners say that it takes 12 positive customer service experiences to negate one bad one.  So unless you've got a customer who has happily purchased at least 13 times from you, one mistake could be enough to give them an overall negative impression of your business.

Avoiding Negative PR:

As a business owner, you're not going to get back every customer who has had a bad experience (and, sometimes you won't want to). But, controlling potential damage that angry customers can do is extremely important. Negative comments on blogs, forums, or social media can be very harmful, as can complaints to scam sites or the BBB.

The easiest way to provide good customer service is to be available. Whether that's phone, email, live chat, or other means, make sure customers who have a complaint or comment can contact you and let you know. 

When people have a bad experience, they usually feel the need to tell someone—make that someone you, or else it will be their Facebook wall! You can use a help desk, or a special customer service email or phone service that alerts you when a complaint comes in.

And when it does, act fast. Time is of the essence to quell anger, an emotion that can fester out of control. The bottom line is that the majority of customers can and will be satisfied and turned into repeat business with a little TLC.

 

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What's Next

Next In This Guide
Part 10:
Using Social Media to Promote Your Small Business - Using social media outlets can be a great, inexpensive marketing strategy for small businesses on a budget.

Previous In This guide
Part 12:
Free Local Advertising - The top 10 strategies for getting free local advertising for your small business.

Table of Contents
Street Smart Guide to Small Business Marketing

 

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