In today's pool of options that customers can pick and choose from, it's important to ask : what makes them go to some small businesses but not others? It is not necessarily the product. It's great customer care. Think about it, would you go to the same small coffee shop that knows what you want and how you like it, or would you go to the shop that makes you wait for someone to come get your order? It's the same thing when we speak about online customer service.

Companies that provide an excellent customer experience see a 7.1 times higher revenue growth rate than those that don’t.

Good customer service is key, whether you're a flower-shop owner, pet-spa owner, or restaurant owner.

In this article we define what customer service is, dig deep into the mistakes small businesses often do, and the strategies you can employ to avoid them, and lead a successful business.

1. What Is Customer Service & Why Is It Important?

Customer Service is the support, advice, and care for customers who are looking for or have already purchased a product or a service until they stop using the product or service. It is simply catering to everything that a customer requires before and during the purchase, and until they stop using the product or service. 

Studies show that consumers are willing to spend 17% more on a service just because the business is able to deliver an excellent service. While 33% say they would switch to a competitor after one poor service. 88% of customers say good customer service makes them more likely to purchase again. }

This is the direct connection between a business image and the world. The reputation, and the business's ability to retain the customers lay in the hand of customer service. This is the relationship that will become long term and will become the source of more business or will collapse on itself and ruin future opportunities for you. If this relationship fails, you just gave your competition a customer on a silver plate.

Why This Works

Personal Connection: Marie knows your name and remembers your preferences, making your experience feel personalized and special.

Thoughtfulness: The small gift of a succulent shows that the shop appreciates your loyalty and wants to give something back.

Friendly Interaction: The casual, friendly conversation makes you feel welcome and valued.

This kind of customer service turns a simple transaction into a delightful experience, encouraging you to return and even recommend the shop to friends and family.

It may sound like a simple task, but it is actually more challenging than it seems. It not only requires patience and perfect communication skills, it also requires time to form the business to work on the team as well as a recorded process for the team. 

2. 7 Customer Service Mistakes Small Businesses Make & How To Avoid Them

When businesses make reckless mistakes with customer service, your first impression is hurt and ultimately the reputation of the business is broken - for a small business, you can't afford that. Studies show that it costs 5 times less to retain a customer than to attract a new one to generate a sale. 

Don't underestimate the difficulty of serving customers. Do you have the right tools? Are your people trained and coached? It's not easy to absorb frustrations from complaints, manage rude customers, resolve complex problems, and work under pressure. 
Thankfully there is a solution to every problem.

1. Not Investing In Training

Customer service starts the moment your customers enter the door. How long do they have to wait before someone welcomes them? How are they greeted? How is their order taken? What is the tone of voice of your staff? The cleanliness of their uniform? How is their order handed to them? Do they know about the products they’re selling? When ordering through WhatsApp, how long does it take for your team to respond?

In customer service, every little detail matters, and it is key to keep your staff trained on the latest best practices. Several solutions exist: 

• Product Knowledge
  • ​​Example: A customer comes into a shoe shop and asks a sales person if one specific shoe is a running or climbing shoe and the employee doesn't know.
  • Solution: For every new product you add to your inventory, every team member needs to learn the basics about it. Have daily check-ins to test the employees that made mistakes the day before.

• Communication Skills
  • Example: A customer walks in a cloth store and the employees are too busy talking to each other. 
  • Solution: Train the employees to greet customers in an appropriate way that suits your business and balance conversations and customer care. 

• Problem-Solving Techniques
  • Example: A customer comes into your shop after you fixed their phone 3 days ago, and it's still not working, but the employee on the front desk becomes defensive and starts making excuses. 
  • Solution: Teach the employee to listen to the customer, apologize, and find quick solutions.

How To Avoid: 

Implementing these training programs can happen in numerous ways: 

• Hire a professional to train your team.
• Subscribe to an online customer service training program.
• Lead by example.
• Organize several workshops during the year to brief your team.
• Role play.
• Give checklists. 
• Teach your staff to give and receive feedback.

Don’t forget that repetition is pedagogy. You will likely need to repeat things for them to become the norm. However, this will hugely benefit your business down the line.

2. Not Listening To Customers

If the customer has a problem they are communicating with you, there are 2 priorities to achieve immediately. First, LISTEN. Listen to the problem, comprehend the feeling and frustration you are hearing, not what you assume it is. It doesn't matter how long the customer rants and complains, listen to all of it. Second, SOLVE. Every complaining customer needs a solution. Have a process for every complaint you get and make sure the team is able to solve as many problems as possible immediately on spot. Of course not all problems can be solved, but it can not be repeated without having the process recorded. 

Documenting and setting up processes helps employees avoid facing repeated complaints. In the case of a repeated complaint happening, the employees would be able to instantly resolve the issue.

How To Avoid: 

• Establish a clear process for documenting customer complaints and solutions.
• Use a CRM system to log issues and track their resolutions. 
• Building strong communication and problem-solving frameworks.
• Training your employees on active listening techniques.
• Empower your employees to take immediate action where possible.

By actively listening to your customers and swiftly resolving their issues, you’ll enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

3. Not Being Where Your Customers Like To Shop

Traditionally the conversations happened through email or phone. Today, 47% of customers want to use the website or the App to communicate with businesses and 36% of customers want to communicate via social media. If customers look for you on their preferred platform and couldn't find you, or the response time wasn't appropriate - you just handed a competitor a customer on a silver plate. While keeping up with all these platforms can be tough. There are tools that allow you to access them on one dashboard.

Right under John's office, there were 2 coffee shops. The first had excellent coffee, but didn't deliver to the office, and had no direct communication with their customers. The second had okay coffee, but was highly active on WhatsApp and would deliver to the office, with payment by card upon delivery.
John had recently taken on a huge load of work and couldn't afford going up and down every time he needed a coffee, so he chose to go with convenience.
Over time, with 1 coffee a day at 20 AED / coffee, the second coffee shop made 20 x 4 x 5 = 400 AED of extra revenue per month, with just 1 customer.

How To Avoid: 

It is crucial for small businesses wishing to grow their business to sell outside of the limits of their shop’s walls. To solve this problem, small business owners should consider opting for a multichannel POS; especially POS solutions that work directly on payment terminals, enabling merchants to sell in their shop, at their customer’s doorstep, online through payment links.

4. Not Being Data-Driven

Do you monitor which products sell the most? Did you ever develop a best-selling product further to satisfy your customers? Do you track which customers are your best customers, and reward them for their loyalty? 

These are not just numbers, this is your money and your business growth. Schedule a frequent decision making session to reshape the way your business is doing things based on what your customers are telling you they want things to be done. Actively collect feedback through surveys, reviews, and direct communication.

How To Avoid: 

Digitize your operations if you’re still operating on a pen and paper. Opt for omnichannel solutions that cover all your needs, and also enable you to operate a data-driven business. Look into solutions that are also particularly easy to use and understand, so that you do not get drowned in data analysis, and experience analysis paralysis (the concept of not being able to make a decision because there is too much data).

5. Lack Of Consistency

If a restaurant has 2 chiefs, you would expect to see the same items and taste the same thing from both chiefs. If a customer ordered a piece of cake in the morning and comes the following evening and tastes something different, they will probably not come a third time. The solution to this is to establish clear service standards and ensure all employees are trained to meet these expectations consistently.

How To Avoid: 

Training is key to maintaining consistency. Make sure all your florists are trained to follow the same techniques and standards for arranging flowers. Create a detailed manual that outlines your shop’s style, the types of flowers used, and the presentation standards. Regularly hold training sessions and refreshers to keep everyone on the same page. Use checklists to ensure that every bouquet meets your quality standards before it leaves the shop. By doing so, you’ll ensure that every customer has the same great experience, every time.

6. Not Following Up After Resolving An Issue

If a customer had a problem that you fixed a week ago and you still didn't drop them a message or gave them a call, you are probably now in their past. Following up with customers that were upset with your business for any reason, shows them that they care about their feelings more than their wallet. Develop a follow-up process to ensure customer satisfaction and address any lingering concerns.

How To Avoid: 

In an electronics shop, for instance, if a customer had an issue with a product and you provided a replacement or repair, don’t let the communication end there. Schedule a follow-up call or email a few days later to check if everything is working well and if they are satisfied with the resolution. Create a system where follow-ups are automatically scheduled after an issue is resolved. Personalize your follow-up messages to show genuine concern and gratitude for their patience and loyalty. This simple gesture can turn a potentially lost customer into a loyal one.

7. Not Being Flexible

It's great, efficient, and productive to have a process and a fixed plan to resolve problems. Until it starts strangling the problem-solution for the team. Your process is not written in stone. If you have a problem that is recorded to have a specific solution which worked for 10 years but in the past 10 days you started getting complaints on the solution itself - it is time for a change. Don't be rigid in your policies. Accommodate your customer requests. Empower the employees to make decisions that benefit the customer and the business, showing flexibility where appropriate.

How To Avoid: 

In a pet shop, for example, if customers have been consistently requesting a different brand of pet food that you currently don't carry, listen to their feedback. Rather than sticking rigidly to your current inventory, be open to updating your product line to meet customer demands. Encourage your staff to note any frequent customer requests or complaints and discuss these in team meetings. Empower your employees to make on-the-spot decisions, like offering a discount or special order, to enhance customer satisfaction. This flexibility can significantly improve your business’s responsiveness and customer loyalty.

3. 7 Tips To Improve Your Customer Service

Implementing some of the customer service strategies can significantly enhance your business's reputation and customer loyalty. Here are 7 tips that can help keep your customer service team on top of their game and ensure your customers remain satisfied and engaged.

1. Personal Messaging

If your customer feels special, you win. Making it personal for the customer is not easy. You need to take the time and have the tools that can allow you to know what each customer loves. You also need to put in the effort to match things together. For example, if Toqa likes Matcha drinks, would she like to try a new detox smoothie?

2. Staff Must Learn The Business

There is nothing more annoying for a customer that had just poured their heart out with their frustration with a problem than having the representative respond "please let me put you on hold to check this for you." It not only adds to the frustration but also feels like the representative doesn't know the answer. Take the time with the frontline team to teach them the business and run all possible scenarios with them. Allow the new agents to shadow experts for a period of time.

3. Speak To Customers Regularly

The average human attention span is only 8.25 seconds. If customers didn't make the decision to checkout this order before the loss focus, it's your responsibility to remind them. Talk to them before they make the purchase. What is making them think long about it? What more would they like to see? Talk to them during the process. Talk to them after they made the purchase. This will allow you to live rent free in your customer's mind. Here is how to talk to your customers in each phase

4. Keep Your Customers Happy

Happy customers are your best customers. They are the customers that will generate the best part of your revenue. They are the customers that will advertise for you to their friends and family. The best way to secure the happiness of your customers is to make sure they feel special. How? Reward them. Take the time to find the tool that can keep track of their birthday, how long have they been your customer, what they like to order, and how often they order it. Then use this information to customize a reward system to share offers and promotions.  

5. Be There For Your Customers When They Need You

If you offer a service that customers use all the time, like internet or house maintenance, you can not have standard working hours. Make sure your support team is available all the time. Learn where customers try to find you at every time bracket and make sure you have the manpower behind these platforms.

6. The Team Knows Better - Talk To Them

A customer service agent hears it all. They know exactly where the company gaps are - TRUST THEM. Before you ask them to get invested in this process, help them first. Having to hear complaints day in and day out, absorbing the frustration (and let's be honest, the rudeness of some customers) will definitely find its way to get to them. Give them the room and the capacity to detox through activities, venting sessions, reward their achievements, or even an afternoon off. Schedule frequent feedback sessions. Listen and see the gaps they will point out and find the solution to fix it. 

7. Acknowledge Your Mistakes And Learn From Them

The only way you can grow is to learn. Making mistakes allows you and your business to learn what is working for you and what is not. If you didn't make the mistake you probably wont know for sure that this doesn't work for you. But when you make a mistake with a client, make sure you tell the customer that you made a mistake, quickly fix it, and compensate for it. Why not just try to cover it up? Because for the most part, the customers already know and they don't appreciate false ego. On the other hand, it is a great opportunity to connect with your customer on a human level.

5. Conclusion

In 2024, excellent customer service will continue to be a crucial differentiator for small businesses. It's not just about the product; it's about creating an experience that makes customers feel valued and understood. From knowing your products inside and out, to mastering effective communication and honing problem-solving techniques, every aspect of your customer service can significantly impact your business's reputation and customer loyalty.

By avoiding common mistakes like inadequate training, poor listening, and inconsistent service, and by implementing strategies such as personalized service, effective use of communication platforms, and being data-driven, small businesses can build strong, lasting relationships with their customers. Remember, happy customers are loyal customers, and their word-of-mouth recommendations can be the most powerful marketing tool you have.

Investing in your customer service is investing in your business's future. With the right strategies and a dedicated approach, you can ensure that your business stands out in the crowded marketplace and continues to grow and thrive. So, take these strategies to heart, train your team well, listen to your customers, and always strive to improve. Your customers—and your bottom line—will thank you.