4 Tips to improve your small business customer service

5 min readAug 18, 2020

Running a new startup in the fiercely competitive business world is not an easy task. Deciding the right business structure, incorporating a business in the right place, arranging the finances to attract customers towards the business. There are a lot of hats that business owners need to wear while operating the business.

As a matter of fact, while founding the startup, we can’t expect the customer service to behave consistently during every stage of business development. It needs to be changed with the increasing demand of your business in the market.

In the starting period, businesses don’t pay attention to customer services like how they focus on producing the products. But as soon as the company starts growing from the ground up, startups need to be thinking through the lens of the customer-service market.

The recent survey conducted by Gallup revealed that customers spend more with the businesses where they have a memorable customer service experience. Moreover, approximately half of the customers end their relationship with the companies because of poor customer services.

One word- feedback can change the image of your brand. Keep your customer service excellent and high-quality to attract and retain maximum customers towards your business.

Try to make your business more prominent than the products you sell in the market!

The businesses focus on delivering excellent customer services to the customers are the ones that outshine among the rivals. The attitude of the company towards the customers defines a lot of things. The right approach and response at the right time can help your business build long-term relationships and human touch with the customers.

When you try to put customer service at the heart of your business strategy, it shows that your company really cares about them. This process will help to build genuine, long-lasting relationships with the customers. A positive customer experience sets a company apart from the almost identically established businesses. If you want your company to reach the success podium, you need to have a competitive edge and the right strategy to stay tuned with the customers.

This article will share with you the top 4 tips to effectively improve your small business customer service and manage it more efficiently. When you pay attention to these four areas, you can deliver an exceptional customer experience. Let’s read about them to bring a credible reputation and long-term healthy relationship with them.

Understand your customers and their requirements

The first tip that will improve your small business customer experience is understanding customers and their specific needs. If you don’t know about your customers, you can’t help them to meet their requirements. That’s why it becomes pretty important for your firm to gain insightful information about your business over a specific period.

Like the book, ‘High-tech high-touch customer service’ written by Micah Solomon, states that customers desire, need, and want, keep on changing with a passage of time. As the saying goes,’’ change is an inevitable part of the world,’’ the most critical responsibility of the small business to improve customer service is to start exploring more about the customers and their preferences. But always remember that customers should be treated like individuals, not the slices of the market. Honoring every individual with their choices is the key to success.

Being a small business owner makes it even easier for you to meet every individual customer’s preferences and needs. It is a more predictable process for small business owners to understand what their customers want and then incorporate this knowledge to enhance the customer focus of their services and products.

Respect your Customer’s Time

Another tip that will help your small business improve the customer service experience is by resolving their issues in time. When customers realize that a company they do business with doesn’t give them enough time or force them to wait over long phone calls, they start considering other companies that provide them with excellent customer service.

There is no denying that in today’s world, no one seems to have enough time to deal with other people’s problems. But being a business owner, you need to understand that your customer’s time is equally valuable as your own. So, never waste their time by making your customers endlessly on phones and standing on queues when they need a quick response. Make this process secure and hassle-free for your customers in order to build a long-term and healthy relationship with your customers.

To figure out the requirements of your customers, you should start exploring more on various communication channels. More specifically, the channels your customers use effectively and efficiently. It is important to invest time and effort into keeping up with the ever-changing world of social media and new technology.

Hold your Promises

The most important thing you need to have to provide your customers with excellent customer service is by keeping your promises. If your business promises some service to customers, it becomes your duty to abide by them. Keeping your word is more than all the smiles, chocolates, and empathy gave to your customers.

One mantra that needs to be followed by the business owners to build a long-term relationship with the customers is doing the right thing at the right time with the right approach. It should not be more and less than the supposed. It would be best if you were fair with the prices, additional fees, and extra charges. Moreover, it would help if you established clear return and refund policies. Therefore, think before you give any promise because nothing destroys trust faster than broken promises.

Build an effective problem-resolution process

And last but not least, tips that can help your small business to improve customer service is building a strong and secure problem-resolution process. Companies should always focus on delivering high-quality services to customers. This could help to bring more customers on board and also build healthy relationships with the new customers.

And if in case, your business did something wrong, you should always apologize to them, before solving the issue. When your customer’s complaint about your company, you need to make sure that you sincerely apologize to them and then resolve it quickly.

A sincere apology will help you in handling negative situations more positively and effectively. In fact, it will also help you to stand in fierce competition. Here, what will make you different is acknowledging your mistakes and letting your customers know that you are concerned with their requirements!

Final Words!

This article is all about tips to improve your small business customer service. Customer service is an essential building block to achieve success. The more you pay attention to your customer service, the more you set the ground for your business’s future success. When it’s done right, customer service can be one of your most valuable assets as you found your company. Good Luck and Stay Safe!

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