Hello readers, I hope you had a great week! Today’s topic is a very important one. Most new home businesses start out with no customer service department. Only 10% of new businesses have a customer service plan. You need a great customer service plan. Don’t start your home business without it!

The number 1 rule for customer service is: BE NICE! No matter what, the customer is always right, even if you know they are wrong. Remember this and you will be sure to succeed in your home business.

Customer service is probably the most important thing you can do in order to drive in repeat customers and word of mouth customers. Did you know that regular customers drive 70% of businesses online? This includes your home business, so make sure you have great customer service in today’s online world.

Is customer service dead? You’d think that when you call a big company or service, you would get to speak to a person right away and get the presidential treatment. After all, you are the customer right? But no, you have to push 1 for English, or this number for troubleshooting, or this number to upgrade your package. By the time your done pushing buttons and get to talk to a real person, you are upset and want to tear someone’s head off.

Everywhere you look, you hear about customers getting ripped off by crappy customer service. Some people won’t even call a company because they know they will have to play the button pushing game for 10 minutes. Some people get confused and run into dead ends on the automated customer service hot line.

Is the anti-personal part of customer service ruining big business? Is the consumer upset? You bet they are.
Anti-personal customer service usually ends up with the big company winning and the customer losing.

People are weary to buy things as it is in today’s world. Bad customer service may be a deciding factor of why a consumer will purchase an item or not. The item might break or not even work at all. Most customers don’t want to chance paying all that money if an item breaks and they know they will have a hard time returning the item.

In the 1950′s and 1960′s customer service was a way for business to expand. People never worried about being ripped off. They bought an item and if it broke, they returned it and got their money back with a little incentive gift or bonus to come back.

All though you may think, you don’t need to know about customer service just because you have a home business. You are wrong. You always want your customers to come back. Repeat customers are a major part of your business. That means you need good customer service to keep them coming back.

I know, you probably think that when you make a mistake; all you have to do is, refund the customer their money back and you’re done. That’s not customer service to me. That’s how big corporate companies might do business, but you can’t, you’re a small home business.

You have to understand the power of; word of mouth customers also. This customer tells he or she’s friend about you, they tell another friend, that friend tell this guy and so on. That’s how you build a customer base.
If you leave a customer unhappy, they will do nothing but tell everyone how much you suck. Straight out, I am being honest, don’t be a jerk to your customer, ever. The customer is always right.

I remember my mom telling me about customer service when she was a kid. Gas stations would have 3 people that ran out to your car. One guy would put gas in, another would check your tire pressure, and another would check under your hood. It was also very common to have the owner or manager come out and greet you. Owners of businesses back in the day would commonly try and make a good relationship with their customers. They had to have better customer service. The gas station across the street was charging 2 cents less per gallon.

Customer service used to be the key to having a successful business. Now things have changed. If you ask me, they have really changed for the worse. Let’s bring back great customer service. Most companies out there now-a-days seem to have overpriced services with nothing to offer if something goes wrong.

Our generation is here, the green generation. We have to change our customer service practices to make small businesses and home businesses better for the consumer again. We are the way of the future; let’s show big business how it’s done!

After all, without the consumer, nobody would buy anything. And most businesses couldn’t survive. Any business, big or small, is nothing without customers. We have to care more, that’s our customer base. Stop being so snob nosed. Present your self more professional and personal.

I am sick of hearing; you can’t get personal if you run a business. That’s wrong, customers always come back if they feel they were treated with respect and weren’t pushed around. Someone actually told me I shouldn’t have my full name all over this website, it’s too personal. I have nothing to hide.

I want my generation to understand, we have to get up-close and personal with customers. Customer service used to be exactly what the 2 words say. It means service for the customer. A smart consumer won’t trust a product till they try it for them self. But people seem to keep getting ripped off by customers with crappy customer service.

The big business world’s customer service is turning in to one big scam. We, as small and home business owners can change that now!

Next time you make a mistake, give your customers a break with incentive to come back. Don’t just give the customer their money back. Give the customer options. Something like – Keep that item and I will send you another, free of charge with a refund as well. Believe it or not, I do this a lot. Heck, if I made the mistake, why make the customer pay for it? Would you want to be treated like crap, for someone else’s mistake? Of course, as a small home business, you can’t do this for big money items. But for items under $30.00 I always take this course of action.

Your going to make up for lost, damaged, or stolen items in the long run. Hey, “It happens”. The customer will probably come back 9 times out of 10 if you go out of your way and do something for them.

Make the customer stay with you and return later as a loyal customer. Give your customers a reason, not to go to someone else. Yeah, you may charge more for your product or service, but if something ever goes wrong; the customer knows that they can count on you. That should be key.

Remember your manners, no matter how mad a customer might get. Look at it if you were in their shoes. Make sure you have a plan or goal in mind for customer service to keep the customer coming back. How many times have you called a company or service and got a rude person on the other line? It’s happened to us all.

Even if you’re not in sales, you should provide great customer service. Think about it, you planned and made daily goals to get this far in your home business. Don’t forget the customer service plan. Make it geared so even unhappy customers will come back.

Eat unhappy customer’s words and swallow it with pride, as you send your kind words and generosity their way. A close friend taught me about keeping your customers happy forever. It really works!

So what do you think? Is customer service dead? Will our generation fix it? It’s up to us!

Thank you for visiting my website.
Come back soon if you want to learn more,
Thanks,
Ron Chubb

If you have any questions about starting a home business just email me. rc@rchubb.com