The Three Essentials for Customer Relations

I am always amazed by how easy it is to attract customers by following some basic principles and golden rules. For a long time, I found them too simple to be the subject of our Friday noon memo.

However, my latest experiences with suppliers of different businesses led to the conclusion that even these simple pieces of wisdom are not well-regarded by most organizations. Why? I think part of the problem is consultants and authors who make a good living from showing that customer relations are complicated and need a long time (and money) to be changed.

Let’s break paradigms and find here my three essentials of good customer service. Apply them by tomorrow, and you will get more and more excited customers, or even fans (see my prior blog post on that topic).

1. Attention trumps friendliness. Forget for a while any programs to train your staff in exhibiting more friendliness toward prospective clients. Instead, make it clear that you expect just ONE behavior: undivided attention. To EVERY prospective client. ALWAYS. By telephone, in the showroom, on email requests.
2. Speed trumps perfection. When being contacted by any customer, react without delay. NEVER procrastinate in any customer matter. Return requests within the shortest possible time. ALWAYS.
3. Simple processes trump complex offerings. Make it easy to engage with your organization and your offering. Cut off unnecessary options. Too much choice creates uncertainty (see my other blog post on that topic).

I know several examples where these principles work perfectly and uncountable cases where organizations lose business by implementing a great “customer focus program” while forgetting these three golden rules.

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