by Carol Ritter
I have a list of extreme customer service strategies. As you know, I’ve personally experienced poor customer service so many times and I believe you have too. Like the other, I walked up to a restaurant and a big sign was on the door: No strollers allowed in dining room – absolutely no food from other establishments allowed in dining room. Now, you might be thinking, “what if there is no room for strollers in the dining room?” and “it’s rude to bring a sandwich from another business into a pizza shop.” And, you might be right. However, I didn’t see the name of the restaurant, a menu, or hours on the door. I didn’t even see if they were open or closed. All I saw was this big sign. How subtle. They lost my business and I had neither a stroller nor a contraband sandwich.
One of my strategies for extreme customer service is soft touch. We created “soft touches” years ago when we were beginning our customer service journey. We tested it and it works. Soft touches are when you contact a future or present client for no other reason than to say hello, how are you or compliment them on a promotion – no sales, no business and no other reason for the contact. It’s a great strategy for building, strong, deep, life-long relationships. Seems simple, but we sometimes get so caught up with the day-to-day business we forget that relationships are the difference between a good business and a great one.
November is a great time to say thanks to your clients. We give thanks every day for the wonderful folks we work with and for the opportunity to help them in the journey to grow their businesses. Start today with soft touches, they are appreciated when they are sincere and they work. And today, I’m thankful for all of my readers. I hear from you all of the time. Thanks for your kind words and support and Happy Thanksgiving!
Carol S. Ritter, past President of the National Speakers Association in Philadelphia, is an accomplished professional speaker, coach and educational consultant specializing in innovative leadership, outrageous fundraising, million-dollar marketing and building organizational alliances throughout the country. FMI on Carol’s creative leadership with bulletproof ideas for recruiting more members, more money and better leaders: www.caroltalks.com, 610-442-4545, tellkids@aol.com, “Like” Carol on Facebook at Caroltalks and CarolCoaches.
