Make the Customer the First Priority

When it comes to running a business, there are so many things that have to be focused on in order to keep things running smoothly. Keeping it all going can take a whole team of professionals working hard behind the scenes. Even with all of this going on, one of the main things that must always be at the center of attention is the area of customer service.

Businesses are in the business to do business, and doing business requires customers or clients of some sort. If a company ignores or decreases a focus on the customer, they will likely begin to slowly lose them, which may ultimately mean a loss of the business as a whole. While this is pretty much a well-known fact, it does not always mean that a company actively places their main focus on the customer. Getting customers is hard, but keeping them can be harder unless you have a top-notch, well-trained, professional customer service team working for you.

Here are a few tips from those in the professional arena had to share on the topic:

1. The job of customer service should be the center focus of everyone; from the computer operator to the sales manager to the president of the company. Everyone must know that nothing is as important to your company's success as a satisfied customer.
2. Communication is a major factor and key to customer satisfaction. Follow up with the customer right away - never procrastinate. If a customer has a problem, get back to them as soon as possible and find a way to satisfy the issue.
3. You’ve heard it time and time again: The customer is always right. There are no small or large issues, whatever the issue or problem the customer offers – it becomes yours too. Get to the bottom of it, and fix it now. Satisfaction usually translates to customer loyalty.
4. When you find the employee who is going out of his/her way to give the best quality service, or you get a positive comment from a customer, make sure you let that person know about it, and thank the employee for this work. Treat the other employees with the same level of respect and care as you would the customer.
5. Training and refresher courses are important for the customer service team. Stimulating the service team with new ideas and motivating them to work hard at providing the best customer service, are ways to keep up the energy, enthusiasm and excitement about the task.

Working in the customer service industry is not a fit for everyone, and it takes a special personality and attitude. If you seek to really succeed in the field, you need to have a type of compassionate desire to serve others. If you have the attitude that customers are irritating or they are a distraction from what you are doing, then chances are you are less likely to advance very far in this field. If that is the case, it is in your best interest, as well as the company’s best interest, to change to another department.

Companies requires funding to survive – funding usually comes from some sort of “customer” – and customers usually require service in order to be satisfied  – making customer service all about the customer as the number one priority for a company to survive.