Everyone loves to feel important, especially when it comes to giving your hard-earned money to a business. Knowing that you are appreciated by those you do business with makes you want to continue to do business with them. It always makes me feel good when I go into a local shop and the clerks call me by my name, I feel like I am valued by them and that they appreciate the fact that I have chosen their business to patronize. Let’s face it there are so many different coffee shops, book stores, doctors offices, veterinarians, and every other type of business out there to choose from. We could pick from dozens of them to do business with, but once we find a place that treats us like we are “special customers” we will stay there.
In our place of business we have found three key ingredients to keeping our customers happy and coming back and also winning their referrals;
1. Treat your customers as individuals, because they are. Call them by their name, making sure we know how to pronounce it correctly (it is okay to ask them how to say their name if you are unsure, they will appreciate it).
2. Be sincere and honest when dealing with them. If you have made a mistake or if the service has taken longer than expected, apologize and make things right. Take the time to engage them and ask them how their day is going. Also remember when they have told you special things like a new grandchild being born or a vacation that is coming up and then when you see them next ask them how their grandchild is or vacation was. You will be amazed how shocked and pleased they will be that you remembered something about them.
3. Thank them for coming back to your place of business. I love to watch our patients faces when one of our assistants is taking them back to the treatment room and on the way he thanks them for coming in and tells them how nice it is to see them again. Their eyes light up with surprise because they can tell he genuinely means it. Treat your customers how you would like to be treated in every aspect of their business dealings with you and you will not go wrong.
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