Q: I know that customer service is vitally important to my business. But how do I go about making good customer service the way we do business?
A: No matter what you’ve heard, the customer isn’t always right. But that doesn’t mean you should be the one to tell him. A better line to live by might be, “The customer always wins,” because if the customer doesn’t win, he doesn’t come back—and then you lose!
Linda Novey-White, international customer service consultant and former SCORE director, believes you should establish a customer service standard that depends on your particular business. Is your core value that the customer always walks out of the door happy, or is it that the customer always gets the best product even if he doesn’t want to pay for it? Those core values are your customer service standards. But whatever those standards are, they should be designed to engender loyalty with each customer who comes in contact with your business.
Novey-White says, “Once you know what the standard is, you have to manage to that standard. The business owner has to be the evangelist for the customer service standard and also its chief enforcer.”
If customer service is important, it’s not enough to say so. The business owner has to be prepared to hire—and fire—based on customer service performance. Customer service should be foremost in annual evaluations, and it should be attached to measurable goals.
If you want to improve your customer service, benchmark it against others in your industry. But if you really want to vastly improve customer service, compare it to others outside of your industry. You might learn a whole new creative process for implementing customer service if you go outside of your industry.
You should be evaluating your customer service on an ongoing basis. Don’t wait until evaluation time to set an employee straight—your customers won’t wait to find someone else if they’ve been disappointed.
It’s not enough to train your employees in customer service. The reinforcement has to be ongoing. Some of the best ways to do this are to let the customer help. One hotel distributes tokens to guests and encourages them to hand the tokens out to employees who have done an exemplary job. Those tokens can later be redeemed by the employees for merchandise. Another company used evaluation cards as the basis for days off for employees who consistently rank high in customer evaluations.
Corporate refugees can make good small business owners
Q: I’ve been working in a large corporation for a long time and now have the opportunity to terminate with a severance package. I’m considering starting or buying a small business but how do I know if I can or should?
A: Many people in similar situations these days are wondering the same thing. Not only are the newly unemployed looking for business opportunities, others currently employed are seeing “the writing on the wall” or “just don’t like” what they observe going on in their workplace. They all need income replacement and seek investment opportunity. Going into business for themselves might just be what they need.
First, people coming out of corporate environments are usually better suited for small business ownership than they may think.
Many skills do travel from one environment to the next and experience working with big companies has some advantages. Training is an important one. Sales courses, budgeting classes, management seminars and other learning experiences are standard offerings at most large corporations.
Big-company employees may have industry-specific or technical experience that they can build a business around, if they can handle all of the other responsibilities of running a small business.
Corporate refugees normally have learned how to execute, plan and budget. If you’ve had management or supervisory background, then you’ve had the chance to develop organizational and time-management skills.
But refugees from big businesses could have some weaknesses. One is a desire or expectation to earn more than is realistic especially at the beginning. The monetary benefits of owning a privately-held business often arrive after the business is well established.
Some corporate employees are specialists--unable or unwilling to perform the kind of multitasking that is second nature to successful small business owners. Corporate executives sometimes are not ready to roll up their sleeves and do whatever is necessary to get the job done.
Most corporate employees don’t have experience managing cash. Someone else paid the bills and received the money. But in most cases small business cash management is much like managing your own personal bank account.
Risk taking is something some refugees can’t come to grips with. They’re used to a steady salary whatever the business conditions. Not having that guaranteed income can be uncomfortable.
So, if you’ve been “downsized for the last time” or are ready “to take control of your own destiny” speak to a SCORE counselor or attend a SCORE seminar for help in getting started.
A: Many people in similar situations these days are wondering the same thing. Not only are the newly unemployed looking for business opportunities, others currently employed are seeing “the writing on the wall” or “just don’t like” what they observe going on in their workplace. They all need income replacement and seek investment opportunity. Going into business for themselves might just be what they need.
First, people coming out of corporate environments are usually better suited for small business ownership than they may think.
Many skills do travel from one environment to the next and experience working with big companies has some advantages. Training is an important one. Sales courses, budgeting classes, management seminars and other learning experiences are standard offerings at most large corporations.
Big-company employees may have industry-specific or technical experience that they can build a business around, if they can handle all of the other responsibilities of running a small business.
Corporate refugees normally have learned how to execute, plan and budget. If you’ve had management or supervisory background, then you’ve had the chance to develop organizational and time-management skills.
But refugees from big businesses could have some weaknesses. One is a desire or expectation to earn more than is realistic especially at the beginning. The monetary benefits of owning a privately-held business often arrive after the business is well established.
Some corporate employees are specialists--unable or unwilling to perform the kind of multitasking that is second nature to successful small business owners. Corporate executives sometimes are not ready to roll up their sleeves and do whatever is necessary to get the job done.
Most corporate employees don’t have experience managing cash. Someone else paid the bills and received the money. But in most cases small business cash management is much like managing your own personal bank account.
Risk taking is something some refugees can’t come to grips with. They’re used to a steady salary whatever the business conditions. Not having that guaranteed income can be uncomfortable.
So, if you’ve been “downsized for the last time” or are ready “to take control of your own destiny” speak to a SCORE counselor or attend a SCORE seminar for help in getting started.
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