Once your business is up and running, the ongoing day-to-day operations of your business will revolve around the supply and demand for the goods or services you offer. To maximise your operating efficiencies and profitability, your focus is likely to centre on the major areas of improving customer service and marketing.
Good customer service is essential to the continuing success of your business. In today’s competitive marketplace, if you don’t provide good service you won’t attract and retain customers. Businesses that make quality customer service a top priority can generate higher profits and get greater market share. By providing superior customer service, your business can grow by increasing the:
By creating a service culture you can help ensure that your business and staff focus on providing excellent customer service. High quality customer service means doing things for your customers that exceeds their expectations consistently. If your customers are happy, there is a high chance they will tell others of their satisfying experience, and return to you and spend again, thus adding to your profits.
Simply, high quality service results in:
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Improved customer satisfaction
--- Stronger customer loyalty
--- Increased profits
Besides increased profits, there are other benefits:
So how can you improve your customer service levels?
Recognising how you interact with your customers is the first step to improving those behaviours.
General elements of customer service activities:
These resources that can help you find the areas of customer service where you need to improve, and lift your customer service levels to new heights.
Marketing in a small business means attracting and retaining customers by matching what people want with what you can profitably supply. It involves managing a process that identifies customers through identifying and anticipating their needs and satisfying them.
Fundamentally, you need to work on your marketing plan:
You can get your message out to the right people through a variety of advertising means, including mail, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the Yellow Pages. Also, never underestimate the value of word-of-mouth, and be bold in your use of business contacts and industry networks.
Resources to teach you about the principle and practices of good marketing abound. The links below will get you started.
For more information see Managing Your Suppliers and Customers and Negotiating Your Way to Success business guides.
Click here for a marketing plan template
