The Customer is King

Successful businesses have one thing in common: They treat their customers well. You may argue and say it’s that they have a great product or an innovative culture, or that they value learning, but if you don’t treat your customers well, nothing else matters. And great customer service can make a company stand out from its competitors, attracting new business and making customers loyal.

At CBCI, we know this by experience. We value our clients. We work hard to please them. One of our newest recently came to us for help on a site, developed and hosted by others, that was constantly crashing. They were adamant the problem was due to the hosting company, and could not get any customer service. We proposed a flat fee to port the application to our favorite, outstanding host and the move went smoothly. However, we soon found there were also problems with the Rails code. Fixing the application took a little more time than we had originally planned. Most companies would go back to the client and ask for more money to fix the problems. We didn’t. We quickly corrected the faulty code and received nothing but praises from our new friends. It doesn’t take much but you have to care.

If you want your business to succeed, focus on your customers. They are the best advertisers you can never buy. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Respect your customers: Show common courtesy and respect those that trust enough to hire you and put bread on your table. It is a simple thing that too often is overlooked.
• When your customers ask a question: First remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Listen. Then listen some more. After they are finished, if you are able, answer them. If you don’t know the answer, find someone who does – right now – not in an hour, not tomorrow or next week. Do it now!
• Bend over backward: Most business philosophies seem to pursue the easiest path and hard work seems a thing of the past. Give a little extra time and effort to each client. Guaranteed—the extra will pay off again and again.

Posted by Administrator on Jun 16, 2007