Customer Service- Customer Service Tips

No matter what business you are in, you must understand what you sell in order to thrive and grow to your potential. You might say “well that’s easy I sell lawn care” , or maybe “I have a restaurant, I sell food.”  If we were together right now what would you tell me that you sold? Think about it, before you answer. Surely there  must  be millions of answers depending upon the nature of your business.

Wrong!

There is only one answer and it applies no matter what business you are in.

Your product is solving the need that led the customer to your door!

Your Product Is Customer Service!

If you think that customers come to you because of the some specific “thing” that you sell, you really do not understand the nature of building a business based upon relationships with your customers. They didn’t come to you for a “thing”,  they came to you because they have a need and hope that some “thing”  you have can either bring them pleasure or solve some problem they have. They  might think that they know what “thing”  they want, and not even realize  that some other “thing” you have would better solve the underlying need that brought them there. But neither of you will ever know unless you try to find out what they really want.
If you are going to go beyond the mediocrity of most businesses the first thing you must do is to take the mindset that no matter what “thing” they may buy from you, the goal is to service the need that brought them to you. In order to learn what what need they had that brought them to you, it becomes essential that you begin the process of interacting with them as individuals, not as lines on a ledger sheet!

That doesn’t mean you need to take the time to know their life history.  What it does mean is that whenever possible you try to understand the need that brought them to you, and make a sincere effort to fulfill that need. Sometimes that may mean selling them a more expensive “thing” than they originally had in mind. Sometimes it may mean that a less expensive “thing” will better suit their needs. Sometimes it may mean that nothing you have is appropriate for their particular need at that point in time.  Even if nothing you have will meet their need at that  time, there is great opportunity there to establish the relationship by your honesty- which will lead them back to you again when they have a need that you can help them to fulfill.

The most important aspect to take from this section is that you need to stop envisioning your line of “things” that you sell as your products, but rather to understand that your primary product is meeting whatever need brought a customer to your door. People don’t really care about the great features of whatever “thing” you sell, they care about how well it meets their emotional needs!