Customer Service - Apple does it in style!

Customer service  is about keeping the customers happy. When customers are truly thrilled about their experience with our product/services, they can become outspoken advocators of our business. This group of satisfied believers can be converted into a potential marketing force to grow our universe of customers. There is nothing more beneficial to our business than "word of mouth" advertising from loyal customer. To create loyal customers, we need to satisfy them and it essential to our business growth.

Keys to defining customer needs successfully are:

1. We need to always talk directly to the customers - we should not assume that we know their needs.
2. We need to prioritise customer needs above our internal business needs.
3. We need to be specific and clearly state the desired customer outcomes.
4. We need to communicate customer needs to all employees.

The customers need our product and services because they have a need. Knowing and understanding customer needs is the centre of every successful business. Once we have the knowledge of our customer needs, we can use it to persuade potential and existing customers that are buying from, are in their best interest. However at the same time we won't be able to persuade anyone that they want to buy what we are offering unless we clearly understand what is our customers really want and whether they have a need at the first place.

Eight rules of good customer service are:

1. We need to answer our phone
2. We can't  make promises unless we can keep them
3. We need to listen to your customer
4. We need to deal with complaints
5. We need to be helpful even if there's no immediate profit in it
6. We need to train your staff to be always helpful, courteous and knowledgeable
7. We need to take extra steps in satisfying our customer
8. We need to throw in something extra, to differentiate ourselves from our competitors

Skills and attributes required by a service provider for excellent customer service:

1. To be observant
2. To listen carefully
3. To be aware of the other person as an individual
4. To become a problem solver
5. To show empathy
6. To be aware of non-verbal communication

When asking customers question, we need to listen to the answers as well, so that we can identify the needs of the customer. We need to be positive and helpful and try to find a solution for the customer in any case.

Four basic needs of customers are:

1. To be understood
2. To feel welcomed
3. To feel important
4. To feel comfortable

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