What Constitutes Good Customer Service?

What constitutes good customer service in today's environment? Is it good enough just to follow the text book definition of: the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. For me it all comes down to "service". This is no doubt the most important part of any business, yet it is often taken for granted or assumed to be good enough.



We have all experienced poor customer service at one time or another and were left with a sour feeling. We don't want to return for a repeat performance, therefore, we take our business elsewhere and worse yet we tell others about our experience.



I like to treat everyone as a customer with courtesy, caring and willingness to serve. This includes, but is not limited to, business clients, vendors, employees, co-workers, friends, family and the casual aquaintance. At any point in time we may need or require the service of others and we should treat these customers as we wish to be treated when and if we become their customer.



In providing good service we must always be helpful - even if there is no immediate profit in it, if we make a promise we do so with full intentions of keeping it, we listen to understand their needs and desires, and whenever possible we try to throw in something extra. It is really a simple concept and easy when you view things from their perspective.



It generally does not cost any more to provide good customer service, however, in contrast it can cost considerably. How many times do you hear from others of their poor experience versus a good experience? Studies show that people are more likely to tell others of a poor experience over a positive experience at a rate of 3 to 1 or higher.



Understanding that it is not always possible to please everyone, given the opportunity to make a wrong "right" by dealing with a complaint we should always strive for the reward of retaining that relationship.



When all is said and done, your business success will depend on the level of customer service you provide.

Economical Advertising - Vehicle Graphics

Do you have one or more vehicles that you drive around for business purposes? By adding your logo, website and other graphics to your vehicle you can gain impressions for your business that get noticed potentially thousands of times per day. The best part about vehicle graphics advertising versus other forms of advertising (TV, Radio, Yellow Book) is once you pay for the design, print and installation the advertising works for years with no additional monthly or periodic costs to you!



Just a quick calculation, say you spend $1000 to apply your business image to the vehicle you drive to and from work every day. Let's say conservatively that 100 cars per day pass your vehicle on a daily basis and at 260 work days per year that equates to 26,000 impressions per year. Now, with proper application and care, vehicle graphics should last 3 years, so that is a total of 78,000 impressions over 3 years for the one time expense of $1000 - that's only $0.012 per impression. Where else can you get advertising at that cost (remember, our calculations were conservative so it is probably much less per impression)!



Now let's look at the benefit of applying your image to multiple vehicles. The more times a potential client views your image on a vehicle the better chance they are going to remember you, or recognize you, when they need your product or service. Think about your own habits - where do you buy and who do you buy from. Most people are more comfortable buying from a person or business they know. The continued image of your business via vehicle graphics and all other means of advertising creates that feeling of knowledge and trust for your business.



At The Sign Center we have applied our logo to all vehicles associated with our business. It not only provides credibility to our business, but it keeps a top of mind awareness (TOMA) for our current and potential new clients. As we track the source of our leads or new clients we have seen multiple new leads generated as a result of our vehicle graphics - now we can do what we do best and educate our new clients on how we can best help them grow their business.