The first step in customer service is making your callers feel welcome. After 20 years of working with entrepreneurs and small companies, I have come to identify and endorse a common trait that is preventing a more rapid growth curve. “Talk is cheap!” As a former athlete myself, I remember hearing the sage advice that “you have to walk your talk.” The New York Giants head coach recently put this into perspective when he told his team, “It is time we stop telling people how good we are and start getting good.” I tell you this to prepare you for a little secret for growing your home-based business. The truth be known, it is not a secret at all, but it does underscore the importance of you “walking your talk” and simply doing what you say you will do.
The words above came from a recent New York Times headline. It reminded me of both the problem and the opportunity that at-home entrepreneurs are faced with in finding and keeping satisfied clients.
This current article should not have to be written, but companies, people, employers and employees just don’t seem to grasp the meaning of this business “thing.” According to Peter Drucker, one of the most respected business consultants ever, the sole purpose of any business is to create customers. Therefore, it is important to remember that it isn’t about you. In fact, it never was about you, and it will never be about you. It is all about them… the customers!
As a speaker who for the past 35 years has gotten paid to talk, I sometimes bore myself to near tears when I get on the subject of customer service. Imagine paying somebody to remind you that it is not nice to bite the hand that feeds you. But here lies an enormous opportunity for the at-home business professional. Many, if not most, of your competitors-both large and small, slide into the ugly habit of taking customers for granted. They are not “walking their talk” and they are giving customer service that is nothing much more than simple “lip service.”
With so much “stuff” going on, accompanied with too much “noise” arriving in the form of “new, advanced, faster, cheaper and smaller,” it is all too easy to lose focus. With telephones, cell phones, beepers, social media arriving in all shapes and sizes, iPods and every other type of communication device known to humankind, coupled with the marketing expense, advertising expense, consultant expense, lawyer’s expense and every other expense it takes to keep yourself in business, I humbly remind you that the next time a customer takes the initiative to call you, it just might be a good idea to answer the call and pretend that you are happy to hear from that customer. Then, and you can use your own imagination on this one, do something or say something to make the caller feel lucky that he or she got you on the line.
The New York Times article went on to highlight a few more thoughts on customer service that I personally endorse without exception:
1. “I’m not anti-computer. I’m not anti-capitalist. I am anti-arrogance.” How many times have you called somebody up in hope that you would find a solution to one of your problems, only to be greeted by some arrogant “big shot” who sounded like he was doing you a favor by talking to you?
2. “It would be funny if it wasn’t so depressing.” I could not have stated this any better myself.
3. “Memo to corner office: Answer the phone!” When your phone rings, it is a clear indication that somebody, somewhere, somehow has decided that he or she would like to speak with you. You are immediately given control of the situation since you are in a position to make the caller feel welcome, comfortable and important. To do otherwise is not unlike shooting yourself in the foot.
4. “Anything a company does to make its products and services a little more engaging, a little less ordinary, can pay big dividends. Anything like, say, answering the phone.” Establishing a home-based business can be challenging at times, and at the very least, lonely, confusing and frustrating (I know this as a result of over 25 years of working from home). So, when a prospect or client decides to dial your phone number for any one of a hundred reasons, treat your simple knee-jerk response to the ringing bell as the enormous opportunity it represents. Then you will become the exception and your headline will read, “Your phone call should be important to me… and it is.”
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club, mike@mikemarchev.com.
*** You want more to think about? Check out my weekly podcast (Miked Up Marchev). Also listed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, and iHeartRadio.
