Are You Being Served?
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
I got a new mobile phone a few weeks ago. During the process of transferring everything to my new phone, I had to make 5 phone calls to a helpline and 4 trips to the local store of a major European mobile internet provider to get an eSim for my Spanish mobile number. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say that the problem still hasn’t been resolved.
At the same time, I had some issues trading in my old mobile with a global technology company. When I called their customer service number, I was absolutely shocked by how helpful they were. Not only did they offer to speak English to me when they heard me struggling in Spanish, but they assured me repeatedly that they would resolve my problem, one way or the other. They were committed to solving my problem!
Speaking to them was just so effortless and helpful. The feeling that came over me was something like, “I LOVE this company and I would always buy their products, even if they were more expensive.”
That experience served as a timely reminder that for companies and entrepreneurs to be successful, it basically comes down to one thing ….. good customer service.
What does good customer service look like?
Responding quickly - when you’ve got a problem, you want to resolve it as soon as possible.
Showing empathy - it’s important to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and understand how they’re feeling.
Going that extra mile - if you can overdeliver on the customer’s expectations, you will certainly make a lasting impression.
Knowing your customer - customers love personalisation. Remembering facts about your customer from previous interactions can not only help you provide relevant solutions but make them feel special as well.
Acting on feedback - you’re never going to get things right 100% of the time, but showing that you act on a customer’s feedback will assure them that they’re being heard.
Solving the problem - this may require some creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, but the best customer service involves actually solving any problems.
But what if you don’t have any or many customers? What if you’re still trying to build your business? What if you’re not a brand with global recognition, but a small company or entrepreneur? After all, you can’t serve customers until you have them.
What I’ve seen instead is far too much of the following two things:
Connecting with potential customers on Social Media and then immediately trying to sell them something.
Giving something away (a “lead magnet”) in order to get an email address and then bombarding potential customers with emails (putting them in an automated “funnel”) in order to sell them something.
Both of these are creepy and don’t usually work.
Here’s a message I received from a new connection on LinkedIn just this week:
”It’s a pleasure to connect with you, Mary Beth. Quick background on me, I help coaches consistently gain new clients and reach income goals using my client acquisition blueprint. I’m curious, is this something that you need help with in 2021? If not, I’m still glad we connected and look forward to following your content on LinkedIn.”
It’s a polite enough message, but this person has identified me as a potential client and has gone in for the kill moments after connecting with me. Everyone seems to be doing this now. I get so many of these messages on LinkedIn every week and I usually just ignore them.
In most cases, people don’t sincerely want to connect with me on LinkedIn in order to build their network or because they would like to read more of my posts and articles. It’s not about serving…..it’s all about me, me, me, what I do, how I can help you (aka “sell to you”). This feeling comes through even the most politely written messages.
What if you sincerely wanted to serve people and help them? What if you built relationships over time and helped people for free? Yes, that’s right, FOR FREE! If your time is valuable, you can always give away things that you’ve produced in the past……helpful articles, ebooks, webinars, checklists, etc.
I hear you say that the purpose of running a business is to make money. Why should you be helping anyone for free?
Companies usually pay for advertising and marketing, which can have varying degrees of success. However, good customer service trumps the best advertising you can buy. Loyal customers will keep coming back and continue to buy from you. Loyal customers will recommend you to others and do your marketing for you.
Ask yourself, “How can I serve?” By SERVING instead of SELLING, you will find that you soon have more business than you can handle.