“It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” – Henry Ford
Customer service isn’t just about delivering a good experience for customers, it should be an all encompassing attitude by you as a service and product provider. To do this you need to understand your customers because without pinpointing that, it is impossible to achieve excellence in customer service.
- Who they are
Find out your customers’ gender, age, marital status and occupation. If you sell to other businesses, find out what size and type of business they are, who runs them etc
- What they do
Discover your customers’ occupations and interests. You can do this in store or perhaps via social media if you have an active audience. If you sell to other businesses, it helps to have an understanding of what their business is trying to achieve.
- Why they buy
If you know why customers buy a product or service, it’s easier to match their needs to the benefits your business can offer. List out reasons why you think someone would need your product or service and why it would benefit them to better understand this.
- When they buy
If you approach a customer just at the time they want to buy, you will massively increase your chances of success. Timing is everything and you need to find the time is right to fill the need. Research is key here.
- How they buy
Some people prefer to buy from a website, while others prefer a face-to-face meeting. See if you can be more convenient for your customers. Install a people counter systems. All the customer knowledge you can gather is useless unless you have the right staff to traffic ratio when customers are ready to buy.
- How much money they have
You’ll be more successful if you can match what you’re offering to what you know your customer can afford. Again research is important here to know and understand if your product/service pricing is hitting the market well.
- What makes them feel good about buying
If you know what makes them tick, you can serve them in the way they prefer. Is your product or service going to make their lives easier in some way? If so, emphasise this to the customer as though they NEED to have what you are offering.
- Their expectations
For example, if your customers expect reliable delivery and you don’t disappoint them, you stand to gain repeat business.
- What they think about you
If your customers enjoy your service, they’re likely to buy more. And you can only tackle problems that customers have if you know what they are. Carry out surveys in store or ask for feedback on social media.