Remember the day when a handshake was a contract, saying “I’ll be there” was an RSVP, and handwritten notes to others were popular?

It seems that long gone are the days of serving others without looking to be served. But that doesn’t mean we have to go with that flow and not make an interruption in how business is conducted!

Here are a few Best Customer Service Practices for Entrepreneurs, Leaders, and Businesses that a few would consider ‘vintage’:

1.  Firm Handshake with eye contact

Giving eye contact shows the person you are focused on them and attentive to their needs and wants.

Not just a handshake but a firm handshake.

My grandfather always said the firmness of a handshake makes the receiver feel the giver is grounded, focused, and interested in shaking hands instead of hesitant or the interaction is unwanted.

Of course, with ladies he also said to be gentle and not overbearing in a handshake or make a woman feel obligated to shake a man’s hand. He wouldn’t offer his hand to a lady unless she offered to shake first. He said in his generation and where he grew up everyone viewed it as treating a woman with upmost respect and kindness. (he also grew up in rural America where every man’s hand was dirty and beaten up from hard work every day and ladies wore gloves to keep clean and presentable, so this made complete sense in those times.)

2.  Offering water to the client/customer/potential candidate if the meeting may take a little while

When I was younger, not that many years ago, I was always asked if I would like something to drink when I entered for an interview or meeting. It was normal but I always wondered why an employer would give an act of service to someone asking them for a job.

In reality, there are a few reasons this may be:

– they need the position filled

– the employer gets a snapshot of how the person behaves when they feel comfortable or ‘at home’

– it’s a respectable thing to do

I personally have watched strong postured people start slouching in a chair, leaned back and talking like it’s their next-door neighbor doing the interview.

I’ve also seen people hold their composure while giving off a sense of relaxation or lowered stress and nerves by this small kind gesture.

What better way to set an example for a potential employee of how the company wants their customers/clients and fellow team members served?!

3.  Prioritize but don’t spoil. Time-management practices.

It’s great to be able to respond to someone’s request in record time, however if this is the typical practice there are some that take advantage of the kindness and procrastinate.

This can leave your employees stressed and racing a clock when they should not have had to, or the customers are not understanding the first time an employee is unable to respond immediately.

4.  Speak to understand not to be heard

Asking questions for a deeper understanding, instead of speaking in statement form can help strengthen the conversation and relationship with a customer.

5.  Listen to understand not to respond

Something distracting you while someone is talking to you is bad enough, distracting yourself by thinking what words you want to respond with is a whole new level.

You may hear what they say but you haven’t comprehended it entirely which means you didn’t actually listen. Most likely the conversation will repeat itself or you will ask a question that the person already gave the information to.

6.  Show action to the situation; not blame

Blaming other employees (even if there was fault there) to a customer just lowers the integrity you stand for in their eyes and brings about the question of trustworthiness for all parties. Always take action to help resolve a situation, even if it’s not ‘part of your job description’ and if the customer is upset provide them a way to voice their thoughts appropriately; like with a manager, supervisor or review/complaint card without yourself getting involved in any drama.

This doesn’t mean you have to defend anyone but you shouldn’t blame or justify the blame coming from the customer, stay neutral and simply find a resolution to the situation.

7.  Remember a fine detail from a previous conversation and ask them about it.

Examples are kids starting a sport, their hours changing at work, something they shared that was stressing or exciting, etc.

This builds a relationship as well as a positive view from the customer that they are viewed as a living, breathing human being and not just another number to the company or component of your paycheck.

8.  It starts internally.

Serving employees and co-workers first sets the tone for how customers/clients/etc. are treated.

Not talking ajust monetarily, but do your employees feel appreciated and served well? Do they KNOW they’re appreciated or are you just giving high fives and maybe a little gift card every so often?

An older generation member once told me that he never lacked in his profession, not because he loved his job but because he was valued as a person. Those in management and supervisory positions would have lunch or breakfast with employees individually and ask them what their goals were, what they like or didn’t like about their position or workplace, and then actually helped them create a roadmap to where they wanted to be.

They earned these meetings by high customer and co-worker service reviews and their performance, but they retained the ability to keep having this one-on-one time by completing the tasks on the roadmap without losing their customer and co-worker service review standards.

Management’s time is valuable and by requiring employees to earn it not only helped management act out #3 in this list but also set an example to the employees for when they reached positions of more responsibility.

9.  Addressing workplace problem areas straight forward before they get out of hand-

Customers can feel the tension and bad atmosphere in a workplace without an employee saying one word.

SO here is a thought, does your company hire for a skill set, degree, or experience? And when someone is let go, is it typically a fault in those skill sets, degree, or experience? Or is it a lack of character, attitude, or values that align with the company’s vision and atmosphere?

When issues are ‘swept’ under the rug, the atmosphere becomes tense and a couple things can happen.

– the same attitude exhibited between co-workers will eventually be exhibited from employee to customer (bad company corrupts good character)

– employees no longer exhibit numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, and eventually loose their excitement, positivity, and hope for their future with the company….in other words, your ‘good company’ will be pushed out the door by the ‘bad company’ happy to slam the door on their way out.

10.  Send personalized or handwritten thank you cards to new customers or loyal customers.

I time-block out twice a month to handwrite short little thank you cards.

When I worked with products I would send out randomly (but organized mailings to me) small trial size or samples as a thank you for continued support from loyal customers/clients.

Transitioning to online business I still send thank you cards but now I design and print them myself. This also works as an advertisement and I’ve had a few referrals from doing this.

11.  On mailings, leave a nice little note and/or smiley face with your signature.

SO this one may not be as feasible if your business is larger or very busy. But when I did billing and statements I would simply write “God Bless!”, “Have a great day!”, “Hope summer is treating you well!”, “Enjoy your holidays!”, or something similar and sign my first name.

I can not tell you how many times people would tell the owner they appreciated the little note, I never had to tell anyone I was doing it. The owner, or manager depending on where I was at the time, usually made it a new thing the office would do as part of our customer service efforts.

Nope, I wasn’t always popular with my coworkers (hince #9) but my customers, patients, clients, etc. were happy and that’s what I did it for! I also can’t tell you how many opportunities were opened to me because of little kind gestures in serving others like this.

12.  Give more than you ever expect in return.

Investing your time into excellent service of others regardless of where, when, or how without having a why other than you care always leaves a lasting impression.

If you also keep the mindset of giving without expecting a return, you’ll never be disappointed.

Respect, Trust, and Appreciation are built on acts of service.

By serving your customers more, yes some will abuse it so you have to set limits (refer back to #3 for an example), you are setting an example for the relationship with them. I found that the more I served, the more I was appreciated, and my customers began returning the acts of service to not just me but other people. I have witnessed so many acts of kindness of customers helping customers because the tone was set for them in that place.

So I leave you with these last thoughts:

Entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders, employee….where ever you serve…

remember the day you had such a great experience with a company or employee that you took the time to leave positive feedback?

Most of us say “That’s been a while.” or maybe you never have?

Generally speaking, most people don’t take the time to give a review or ‘go out of their way for nothing in return’ on a positive note, good experience, compliment, kind gesture, act of service, or act of thanks…..but boy when something upsets us we jump on social media, a text message or online review to give our opinions or negative feedback.

Yes, there is a place for reviews containing less than acceptable service or experience, that’s how we get better.

BUT also keep in mind, #12 also applies to your own experiences receiving service not just your giving of service. If you have a great experience in customer service, internal of your company or external in life, we should make it a point to at least acknowledge it but even better appreciate it and give attention to it.

In reality, if you don’t even take the time to leave a nice thought or give a nice gesture to your employees and for others of different workplaces, then why in the world would your customers do it for you?

Lead by a positive example of actions and words in all areas of business and in life!

1 Peter 4:9-10

Just as each one of you has recieved a special gift [a spiritual talent, an ability gravciously given by God], employ it in serving one another as [is appropreiate for] good stewards of God’s multi-faceted grace [faithfully using the diverse, varied gifts and abilities granted to Christioans by God’s unmerited favor].

Chat soon and God bless,