Only Way to Create Loyal Customers

Whether you were selling the first wheel in the Stone Age, or selling seats on the first commercial flight to the moon in the not-too-distant future … customer service is, and always will be, the name of the business game.

Getting and keeping customers are the most important components in any company’s success. Without customers, nothing else matters. Without customers, there’s no need for executives, accounting, marketing, maintenance or any other aspect of your company.

So how can you get customers to choose to do business with you? Is there a magic formula that will guarantee customer loyalty?

People choose to become your customer for many different reasons – sometimes because of new product ideas, your marketing campaigns or your company’s reputation. However, in most instances, the real “magic” can be found in customer service. People decide to do business with a particular company based on how well they are treated.
Yes, the customer service relationship is even more important – in many instances – than the performance of the product. Loyal customers are created, primarily, because of outstanding customer service relationships.

Even if you’re selling the finest product of its kind, good clients will eventually disappear if a positive customer service relationship is missing. In fact, dollars lost because of poor sales relationships and customer service problems are seldom tallied or reported. However, estimates place these lost dollars in the millions every year.

Talking about focusing on customer service is not new. Customer service slogans blanket the halls of almost every company. These may sound familiar: “Customers Are First! We Exist to Serve the Customer! Think Customer! Customer Champions! 100% Customer-Focused! The Customer is King! We Are Customer-Driven!” And on and on. Though the slogans are nice and make great banners, many customers will tell you – if you ask them – the words “customer” and “service” are a dichotomy in the way many companies treat them today.

The good news? It does not have to be that way! In fact, improving customer service really comes down to doing a few things extremely well.  Ask your customer what those few things are and deliver to their needs.

Customer loyalty is not something you can manufacture, buy or invent. Delivering service excellence over and above customers’ expectations – and doing it often – is the way you earn customer loyalty.

If you take care of your customers, they will take care of your business.
It is as simple as that!

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7 Rules of Life

Here is some good thoughts from my friend Billie Cox:

7 Rules of Life

1. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
2. What others think of you is none of your business.
3. Time heals almost everything, give it time.
4. Don’t compare your life to others and don’t judge them. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
5. Stop thinking too much, it’s alright not to know the answers. They will come to you when you least expect it.
6. No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.
7. Smile. You don’t own all the problems in the world.

Interested in more?  Click Here for the full slide show.

 

Are You Successful?

What do you need to do to be successful right now?

If you asked people in a typical organization that question, many would say success is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Some would say successful people were just lucky – good fortune fell into their laps. Some may even attribute success to their ancestors – they inherited success.

Has anyone ever been successful entirely because of good luck? Maybe, but not likely! Luck, happenstance, being in the right place at the right time, and family inheritance all may help, of course, but the reality is that many people have been in the right place at the right time, had good fortune come their way, and were born into a wealthy family … yet they never experience success.

So what do you need to do to be successful right now?

Success is ultimately realized by people who make more right choices … and recover quickly from their bad choices. Choices are directional … they lead us toward or away from the success that we are trying to achieve. Our personal and professional success depends on repeating good choices day in and day out … and avoid repeating bad choices.

Take a look at the successful people you know … in your office, your neighborhood, your city or your family. Without exception, their success has been created by their choices. It’s not about luck, the conditions or even the guardian angels guiding their lives.

The task of making good choices is a never-ending challenge … requiring plain hard work and diligence. We also get a lot of practice, because life requires that we choose between alternatives every hour of the day, every day of our lives. Whether it’s selecting one political candidate over another, filling an important position on the team, deciding how to deal with a difficult situation at work, or simply choosing a habit, such as pouring a bowl of Cheerios rather than Grape-Nuts for breakfast or ordering a latte over frappuccino, we are constantly making choices.

Making choices is a privilege that gives us freedom to mold our lives, a freedom we should never take for granted. Life is filled with pressures that force us to make constant and immediate choices. A life without choices would not be much fun.

Think it’s too late to embrace a new philosophy? Or maybe you’re worried that you can’t make the right choices. It is never too late!

According to psychologist Abraham Maslow, “The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.” Don’t sell yourself short. You can make better choices beginning today to achieve what you want in life tomorrow.