Learn From Your Mistakes To Build Better Customers

by Cameron Roberts
http://www.smallbusinessmastercoaching.com

The importance of customer service in a small to medium enterprise is essential. Small businesses thrive on having excellent customer service however it is not always possible to achieve this if your systems and your staff let you down.

I was faced with a personal experience of having a customer tell me that one of my managers left them waiting on the phone for over six minutes about an answer for a new booking, then after all that waiting they were just hung up on.

Obviously, after speaking to my manager, they did call at a busy time, however that is no excuse for our manager. Being human, however they made the mistake of forgetting that there was a person on the other end of the phone line waiting for them to get an answer.

This is what happens in a busy office situation on a handheld telephone when a staff member puts the phone down to do something else that catches their attention rather than complete their current task.

We were lucky on this occasion because we do have excellent staff in competitive market with a trusted brand in the local community that this potential prospect gave us a second chance. I was left wondering how many other situations that staff had cost us new business because people haven't been so patient or polite in waiting.

I am always working with a staff to ensure they follow the correct procedures and policies when booking new customers and new prospects into our service business. That being said though, employees are people and people do make mistakes from time to time.

This is why it is paramount to keep working on your team and ensuring they are kept accountable. One can never underestimate the power of team training in the workplace. Challenge and train your staff on a regular basis. Consider outsourcing the workplace training sessions. Keep in close contact with your team leaders and keep touching base with them to engage them in a way that will inspire and challenge them. Education is important, but education without empowerment and passion is almost a waste of time. Your team members have to be able to "buy in" to the training and education you are providing.

We are always looking for ways to improve the customers experience and implement new policies into the workplace to ensure that we meet and exceed our customers' expectations. We can all learn from feedback, whether positive or constructive. When things do go wrong and your staff do let you down - take the time to apologize quickly to the client on behalf of your business, even though it might not of being you that made a mistake in the first place.

It is critical that you build rapport and win the customer back as soon as possible and gain their trust once again. If you can regain their trust and win them back you will have a happy customer for a long time and you can get them to keep on returning back to your business on multiple spending opportunities.

Now is the time to create better systems for your business and organisation. There's no need to wait until the annual conference or team retreat. Take the time this week, or even today, to consider what areas in your business you need to tweak to produce more profits, greater returns and a better experience for your customers. Dream bigger dreams, take more action and keep leaping through life.

Coach Cameron Roberts is an award winning business owner and a successful coach with over 20 years experience. He is passionate about helping and supporting people to achieve their goals and dreams by improving Performance, Productivity and Prosperity. visit www.leapingthroughlife.com.au. For online coaching support and memberships visit www.coachcamerons.com. FREE e-Books available with every new member.

Article submitted Tuesday, December 06, 2011 & read 1 times.

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