In this global economy where industries are more and more competitive and commoditized, customer service can be the only thing separating you from your competition.

It’s easy to see how much more competitive business is today. And, it doesn’t seem to matter what industry you’re in. With downsizing, rightsizing, reorganization at companies around the world, more and more people are choosing to start their own businesses. They’re picking franchises or hanging their shingle in the industry they were working in before. It’s not just business owners experiencing these challenges. Their salespeople encounter them too.

There isn’t much new under the sun. So, what sets them, or you, apart? The level of service you offer. Customer service – good and bad – begins with your attitude toward your clients. Do you like your clients? Do you value them? Those may seem like strange questions, but the way we treat our clients speaks volumes about how we feel about them.

A few things are true:

-Without clients you have no business

-It’s more cost effective to keep a customer than to seek out customers

-There are other vendors who offer the same product or service

I can hear you saying ‘duh’ right now! Yes, those things are obvious. But, let me ask you a question – do you think about them when dealing with your clients? When you do or don’t keep in contact with your clients, do these things reverberate in your head? When you have the opportunity to ‘over deliver’ do you consider these things?

Consider this scenario:

A salesperson receives a call from a current customer on a Friday afternoon. The customer does a pretty substantial amount of business with this salesperson. Now, this client has an emergency need. It doesn’t happen often, but they’ve found themselves in a predicament and need some product by Monday. If the company decides to help out the client, they will certainly experience some inconvenience – mainly staffing for the weekend. It may even be the salesperson who has to work the extra hours to get the job done.

      What should the salesperson do? Should they make it happen or tell the client they can’t do it?

      What would you do?

In this case, I can tell you that the salesperson decided he didn’t want to be inconvenienced and told the client he couldn’t help them. If you were the client, what do you think your reaction would be?

You know that saying – what have you done for me lately? It exists for a reason. It’s one thing to be there for your clients during normal needs. It’s a completely other thing to be there for them when they have extraordinary circumstances. This is where you get the chance to shine; to show them how much they mean to you.

Your clients don’t owe you anything and they are not your partner. How you treat them determines whether they’ll stick around. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the client mentioned above started looking for another vendor to handle all of their work – not just the emergency needs.

As I said at the beginning, the world is more competitive than ever. What sets you apart is the level of customer service you offer. It translates to how much you care about your clients – how much they mean to you. All other things being equal, customer service may be the only deciding factor. It’ll either keep your customers coming back time after time, or send them searching for someone who values them.

Think about it.

Copyright© 2008 Diane Helbig