Think Like A Customer

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I think customer service is a huge part of a successful business. Many businesses lose sight of this as soon as they start to make money. Customers are the most important thing you have, without them you have no business.

One thing that many business owners have a difficult time doing is putting themselves in their customer’s shoes. A business owner needs to learn to  think about situations from a different perspective, other than their own. That’s a really tough thing for many to learn.

Try to put yourself in your customers shoes, better yet come into your business as a customer and see how you feel. Keep in mind your employees will treat you like royalty, but they should be treating all your customers like royalty.

Go through the entire customer experience in your own business. If you’re a one man show, you get to be the customer and they seller. Just use your imagination a little, remember kindergarten? Be objective, if there is something that is bothering you, it will probably also bother your customer.

Stay in the customer mode for several days, and follow several customers through your process. If you have employees, keep an eye on the process from afar whenever you have a chance. Write down what you notice so you can make changes later to improve your systems for future customers.

Owning a small business can be hectic, and you may think you don’t have time to set aside to put yourself in your customers shoes. In the long run it can save you time, the time it would take you to put out fires, and deal with customers who may not be happy with your products or services.

I would rather spend the time now, and have a happy customer, than to spend the time later fixing things that have gone wrong, and possibly losing customers in the process.