Showing all posts tagged customers

In Business & Blogging

Dealing With Business Customers

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on

customers

As someone who has been a freelance copywriter for over twelve years, I can tell you that your customers can be your biggest headache and your greatest asset. In this day and age people are more likely to take the time to complain than praise (one of the reasons I make a big deal about thanking companies for excellent service). This blame culture or complaining at a drop of a hat can affect a business’s reputation. There are plenty of websites where customers can leave complaints for the whole world to see, not just on your own website or Facebook page. Can we please everyone all of the time? No. We can take steps to make sure that our customer service is excellent though and that we deal with clients consistently and fairly.

The Customer is Never Wrong

 The customers that you’re dealing with are never wrong. Despite what you may think in your head, they’re always right. It can be so annoying to have to agree with a customer who is making and mountain out of the most minor of issues. If they see it as an issue though, you have to too, and you have to respect that and deal with the situation. Of course, if a customer is coming up to you with the most outrageous request that just isn’t the company’s fault, or they are rude etc then you do have to break the customer is always right rule. Be polite and calm but do stick to your policies and terms and conditions so that you and the customer are happy with whatever outcome is agreed upon in the event of an issue.

Streamline Your Customer Experience

Customers hate being passed from pillar to post wondering why the customer service is so poor, so focus on making it the best it can possibly be. If you check out this link, www.bpmonline.com/crm/applications, you’ll find a customer relationship management system fit for your company to use, and I highly recommend that you use something like it. The process of dealing with a customer will be ironed out, and the reputation of your company will remain protected.

Set The Right Tone with Customers

I’ve found over the years that setting the right tone with clients from the beginning has been invaluable. I adopt a professional yet cheerful and polite demeanor. I don’t get angry, even if someone is trying to pull a fast one and deal with everyone consistently yet ensure everyone feels they are getting special treatment.

Protect Yourself

While your clients or customers will be the lifeblood of your business, you also need to protect yourself from them. Go with your gut when it comes to who you work with (not as easy if you are a retail business), have terms and conditions in place and transparent on your website and above all, take care of yourself. Dealing with a nasty customer can be tiring to say the least.

Fortunately 98% of the customers or clients you come into contact with will be fabulous, however the remaining 2% will test you so makes sure that you are ready.

 

In General

3 Ways Your Business Can Protect Its Customers

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on

As anyone in business knows, keeping customer and contact details safe and secure is a big thing. This isn’t a top-heavy guide to GDPR but a few things to consider when it comes to protecting your customers. This is important whether you are a freelancer like myself or run a brick and mortar business.

What Does it Mean to Protect Your Customers?

customers, business

Protecting your customers basically means that you ensure they’re never in danger of being put in harmful situations. For example, you protect their information, so other people don’t see it and use it against them. Unfortunately, there are examples of businesses that failed to protect customers and ended up giving away lots of sensitive information that led to acts of fraud.

If you want to keep your customers, you need to protect them, and here are a few things you should do:

Provide Identity Verification Services

An identity verification service is something that allows you to check that a person is exactly who they say they are. As it shows on jumio.com/trusted-identity/netverify, this type of technology can be used to verify customer ID. How will this protect them? Well, it ensures that they are who they say they are and that their ID matches up with the bank card they’re using to make a purchase. It can help stop incidents where someone’s card details may be stolen, and another person tries to pose as them to buy something. If they can’t provide a valid ID that gets verified, then you can flag it up and protect your customer from losing money. This type of technology is very beneficial for retail businesses.

I haven’t used it myself but it is something that would likely be advantageous to some of my clients.

Host Your Website on a Dedicated Server

There are many server options when it comes to setting up your business website. Often, we opt for a shared one as it’s the most convenient option. However, this is the least secure option as loads of people can easily access the server and potentially look at all the data your site collects. Instead, set up your website on a dedicated server – it takes more time, costs a bit more money, but your customers will benefit, which keeps them happy.

Make Sure You Encrypt Data Files for Customers

Encrypting a data file is where you give it some added security measures. For example, instead of someone being able to click on a file and open it, they now have to type in a security password. This is one of the easiest ways you can keep customer information safe and secure across all of your devices. Even if someone manages to gain access to your files, they’ll have to go through the encryption security before seeing all the info.

If a customer ever gets put in a troublesome situation because your security measures were too relaxed, then it reflects poorly on your business. Not only is this bad for your reputation, it could have legal and financial implications. 

Don’t take this advice as an alternative to GDPR but a good starting point while you are researching what you need to do legally in order to protect your customers and yourself.

 

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