Do you remember the last time you went into a shop and the person serving raced over to you, greeted you with a lovely smile, heaps of enthusiasm and said, Welcome to our store, what can I help you with today? And then listened attentively to what you had to say?

Doesnt happen very often does it? In fact, while I was writing this, I couldnt recall when I had experienced it. Im sure I must have yet it would have been so long ago, I cant remember.

Let me tell you what happened this week

I belong to a well-known trade exchange which I have found very useful for my business. I wanted to purchase a suitcase from a particular store which usually takes trade dollars. From time-time the store will limit the use of trade dollars if they have reached their maximum for the month. Anyhow I quickly discovered this wasnt going to be my lucky day.

I walked in and the assistant who was sitting down behind the counter (and remained there), didnt smile. She barely acknowledged me with what looked like a scowl. I had interrupted her reading time. (She was so busy, there was no-one in the store). I then politely (yes I can be polite sometimes) asked her if they were accepting trade dollars as I wanted to purchase a suitcase. She turned around to the owner who was sitting behind her doing some bookwork and repeated my question. The owner stayed seated, didnt look up and told her assistant No.

The assistant then relayed to me that we are not accepting trade dollars at the moment, but we have good deals for cash.

She remained seated all that time. I didnt answer and walked straight out the front door with my cash sitting in my purse.

No matter how good their cash deals were going to be, if I was going to spend my hard-earned money anywhere, it definitely would not be with them!

The Colour- blind to service Copy Centre

I had spent thousands of dollars with a printing company over a couple of years. A couple of times I was told by one of the staff, when theyve been snowed under Marys too busy to speak with you at the moment, Ill have to get her to call you back when shes got more time.

It was the same company who sent me a Christmas card with an invoice inside it!

Whenever I had to pick up my order, the business owner would whinge about how hard business wasany wonder why?

Needless to say I didnt remain with them.

The Cant do that Caf

We went to a local caf which we hadnt been to for a while and I was told by the waiter that no, we cant do that. I wanted a particular type of sandwich which wasnt on the set menu. I informed the abrasive young waiter that yes, you can. That got him scared and the order I requested turned up within 5 minutes.

Are Customers Important to Business?

Of course they are. No customers, no business. Yet why are businesses deliberately driving customers away? Its ridiculous isnt it?

Its The Business Owners Fault

Thats right. The person who owns the business is the one whos responsible for the way their clients/customers are treated.

They are usually too busy working in the business and have not allocated time to working on their business. Theyre often very disorganised and have no idea what is really going on.

Call it what you wantpersonal productivity, time management, personal organisation are crucial skills everyone needs to know and apply to their daily lives. Otherwise you run around filling your day with activity, most of which doesnt help you achieve your goals.

Five Ways to Improve Customer Service and Increase Profits

If you own or run a business, heres what you can do:

Treat your prospects and clients like royalty. Make every contact they have with you an enjoyable and memorable experience. Be proactive with your clients. Stay in touch. It is up to you to contact them regularly. Not just wait and react when they have a problem.

Look after your own staff. If you look after your own people they in turn will look after the business. Praise, reward, and invest in their on-going development. Send them off to various courses and seminars on communicating, sales, time management etc. Even if you have your own internal people who do the training, its important that your team hear from outside experts who are specialists in their field. They know what they are talking about.

Continually invest time and energy into yourself. Lead from the front. Keep developing yourself.

Get regular feedback. Ask questions. Ask your clients/ customers what they like about your products, services and people. Find out what they dislike.

Get regular feedback internally from your people. Find out what works well, what doesnt, how can things be improved.

The Final Word

Of course to take action on these ideas, you have to plan for it to happen. So pull out your diary now and plan to make sure that your business continues to stay in business and becomes more profitable.