Customers are the lifeblood of any business, and few companies can afford to provide bad - or even mediocre - customer service. When you add the loss of future revenues incurred when customers take their business elsewhere to the cost of acquiring replacement customers, the price tag for poor customer service can be enormous.

Even so, it’s easy for organizations to lose sight of customer service from time to time. There are other business issues that demand attention, and innovative new marketing initiatives can easily dominate a company’s customer focus.

Pricing and promotions have their place in attracting new customers, but it’s what happens during and after the sale that will keep customers coming back - and the revenues flowing steadily.

Remembering the basics

In order achieve stellar service, it’s important to apply the basics consistently. Great service isn’t a “sometimes” thing or a “most-of-the-time” occurrence - it’s an “always” commitment. Here are five time-tested and proven techniques for building excellent customer service.   

1. Pick up the phone. Relationships happen between people, and customers with problems want to resolve them by talking to a live person, not a machine. Hire an answering service if necessary, but always make sure that a real person is available to answer the phone.
   
   
2. Act on complaints. It’s tempting to dismiss the odd complaint with the adage that it’s impossible to please everyone, but reacting to each and every complaint quickly and with a positive attitude is critical. While you may not be able to resolve every grievance, you should always make a sincere effort to preserve the relationship. In the end, the biggest evangelists for your company are often the wronged customers who were ultimately satisfied.
   
   
3. Empower employees. Make sure your new-employee training program includes a serious customer-service component. Give employees access to the information they need to make on-the-spot decisions when customer issues arise, and give them permission to act. With a measure of discretionary power and the ability to solve problems without fear of reprimand, your front-line employees will usually make the right choices - and keep the customers coming back. 
   
   
4. Don’t break promises. Promise a delivery for a certain day? It had better be there. Nothing irritates customers more or ruins credibility faster than a broken promise. That holds true for scheduled appointments, quality guarantees, and deadlines. If you can’t keep the promise, don’t make it.
   
   
5. Go the extra mile. Sometimes, it’s walking a customer over to a product instead of pointing down an aisle. Other times, it’s fielding questions, offering free information, and generally being helpful, even when the customer isn’t buying anything. Extra-effort activities that provide the customer with better service than they expected rarely go unnoticed.

Going beyond the basics

Organizations should be proactive in the pursuit of better customer service opportunities. Find a way to obtain regular customer-satisfaction feedback, and obligate your employees to submit customer-service improvement ideas.

Finally, collect customer testimonials and spread the word about any of your company’s unique customer-service qualities. If it’s fast turnaround times, that attribute should be touted in all marketing and sales materials. Combining these forward-thinking endeavors with a back-to-basics commitment can turn customer service into a true competitive advantage.