Who is a Customer?

A customer is anyone who has seen the benefit and expresses interest in paying for the product or service that you are offering as a business.

Why are customers important to the business?

Customers are the most important people for any business; they are the resource upon which the success of the business depends, the reason why all businesses exist, they determine whether or not the business will survive depending on how you treat them.

What is Customer Service?

Customer Service: Is the service provided to customers before, during and after purchasing and using services.

Excellent Customer Service provides an experience that meets customers’ expectations, it produces satisfied customers, on the other hand poor customer service can generate complaints, and it can result in loss of sales because customers might take their business to a competitor.

Excellent customer service involves developing bonds with customers, hopefully leading to long term relationships; it creates advantages for both customers and the business alike. Customers benefit because the business is providing a product or service that meets their needs, the business benefits because satisfied customers are likely to be repeat customers. They will stay with the business; however, good customer service is not easily achieved. It takes time to establish, it requires investment to deliver consistent standards. No matter the size of your business, excellent customer service needs to be at the heart of your business model if you wish to be successful. It is important to provide good service to all types of customers, including potential, new and existing customers.

Although it can take extra resources, time and money, excellent customer services can generate positive word of mouth for your business, keep your customers happy and encourage them to purchase from your business again. Excellent customer service can help your business grow and prosper.

What is Customer Satisfaction?

Customer Satisfaction: Is a measure of how products or services supplied by a company meets or surpasses customer expectation.

Customer Satisfaction is the best indicator of how likely a customer will make a purchase in the future. Customer satisfaction plays an important role within your business, not only is it the leading indicator to measure customer loyalty but it can increase your business’s sales revenue.

It is also a key point of differentiation that helps you to attract new customers in competitive business environments. The relationship between the customer and the company is, therefore, an important one, building customer relationship can be seen as moving up a ladder because at the top rung of the ladder are your loyal customers.

What is Customer Loyalty?

Customer Loyalty: Is an ongoing positive relationship of how a customer repeatedly or consistently chooses your products or services over your competitors. And this can only be achieved through customers being satisfied with the service received. Customer loyalty can be loosely defined as the predisposition of any given customer to purchase your services over comparable ones available on the market.

Here are a few of the most important reasons why customer loyalty is important to your business:-

1. Repeat Business: Loyal customers, almost by definition will purchase your products or services again and again over time. Depending on what type of business you have and what the sales cycle is like, you may end up selling more to one loyal customer in a year than you might to even ten (10) first time customers.
2. Cross-Selling Opportunities: Customers who show brand loyalty have a relationship with your business. They trust you to provide exceptional customer service, this creates a great opportunity to fulfill more of your customers’ needs than the traditional ones you currently meet. This means you can make sales to loyal customers across product and service lines, increasing your overall sales volume without needing to focus so much on attracting new customers.

Benefits of Customer Service

Attracting and keeping the right customers can make a big difference to your business, it can help you to:-

1. Increase the potential for referral business; long-term customers are more likely to introduce your business to others via a verbal referral.
2. Build brand awareness.
3. They can also increase your sales and profitability, as well as ensure you meet your business goals and objectives.
4. They are more likely to purchase other services from you and if they are completely happy with the service they are getting then why would they even think of switching to a competitor?
5. Build networks and relationships with your customers and other businesses.

Helpful Tips:-

• The most valuable part of your business is your reputation with your customers, your reputation in the marketplace determines how much you can sell and the prices you can charge.
• The friendliness of the staff and the ease of doing business with you is also a key part of your reputation.
• Your credibility with your customers, the degree to which they see you as trustworthy and dependable is what will keep customers coming back, as you progress in your business you will find yourself selling your products or services not only to individuals (B2C) but to other businesses as well (B2B).