Keep Your Eye On The Back Pocket: Customer Service Will Make You Money

Every business owner wants to see his or her enterprise grow. One of the most overlooked elements of good business is customer service; it can single-handedly make or break your business. Losing clients often reflects more on customer service and poor follow-up than it does on the quality of the product or service that is actually provided.

If you have a good product and great service, your clients will tell others and by word-of-mouth your business will grow. As a case in point, each morning I like to drink a cup of tea before I go to work. I found a wonderful coffee shop that happens to be on the other side of town. Nonetheless, I pass by three other coffee shops (including a Starbucks) every time because of the splendid customer service at this particular store. This realization has made it clear to me that customer service, not the product itself, is what leads to client loyalty.

This coffee shop – and most other businesses – will never be as famous for customer service as the Ritz-Carlton, but to make your business grow successfully you should aspire to such legendary levels of service.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotels actually offer courses in customer-oriented service. I recently provided stress therapy sessions during a conference held at this “hotel of hotels.” Ordinarily the highlight would have been working with the high-level executives from Fortune 500 companies, but in this case the Ritz-Carlton itself stole the show. From the time customers put their feet on the grounds to the time their feet leave the property, guests are treated like royalty and made to feel that no other guest is as important. If a guest has come to the hotel and forgotten something, the staff will do almost anything to locate that item. If a guest wants some food at 3 AM, it will be provided. The idea of a closed kitchen is completely foreign to the Ritz-Carlton. Where the Ritz-Carlton staff excels is in going out of their way to help guests without ever showing that a request has caused any inconvenience whatsoever. We, as business owners, have to do the same for all of our clients.

Many times you have clients who are a little more “colorful” and who give you the feeling that they do not value your time. As a businessperson you will have to “put on the Ritz” and step away from your personal feelings, remembering that the client can go anywhere they want for services/product and they have chosen to come to you. Of course, you do have to make it clear that your time is valuable, and your fees have to make it worthwhile to allow your clients to be just as colorful as they want. Make the client aware of your boundaries and enjoy your work, focusing on good customer service to guarantee business growth through customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising. The Ritz-Carlton, of course, gets $200 to $400 per night, so perhaps the staff’s patience is a bit more developed, but the point is clear: customer service is critical to longevity. Still, always consider your time and needs when developing your own customer service program.

When you invest this $400 for a course on excellent customer service, take your notebook and pay careful attention to all the details. This detail-oriented mindset will better prepare you for implementation in your own business. Write a customer service SOP (standard operating procedure) for yourself as well as for your staff. Train your business to make the customer feel important all the time, and, as an 80 year-old business colleague said to me, “Businesses grow and sustain themselves by ‘keeping their eye on the back pockets.’” Good customer service will keep this motto in the forefront.