Laurel Tielis

If you’re working more, and enjoying it less, you are not alone. Many of your customers, and would-be customers, are as well.

A lot of people who are employed are working longer hours and feeling more stress. And they’re the lucky ones. Then there are the unemployed, who work long and hard to find work.

You can grow your business by making your customers lives easier; in current parlance, by adding a WOW! factor. By making yourself and your business indispensable, you’ll hold on to current customers, and boost your new customer base as well.

Ways to WOW! Your Customers

1. Provide a courtesy phone
While most people have cellphones, they don’t always work properly–just ask anyone who’s using an iPhone. Letting people access your landline for local calls will cost you nothing, but pay off nicely.

2. Make free Internet access available
Smartphones are on the rise, and they’re wonderful when they work, but until everyone has one, and the phone service improves,  this is an inexpensive way to make your business a welcoming place to customers.

3. Set out a chair
You may have to ask a customer to wait while you search for something or while you finish working with someone else, and it’s so much nicer for them when they’re comfortably seated. Remember, it’s not just senior citizens who appreciate a place to sit; their younger counterparts do as well.

4. Sit or Squat
People talk about death and taxes as two certainties. There’s a third, though, and you can take advantage of it in your business. Be known for the cleanest, most beautiful bathroom on your street or in the mall.

5. Open the door a few minutes early/close the door a few minutes late
Open five minutes earlier than whatever time you have posted on your door. That way, customers who are in a hurry can get in and out. They’ll really appreciate your courtesy. You may make a bigger sale that way than you do the rest of the day. Ditto for showing customer appreciation at the end of the day.

6. Provide free delivery or shipping to the customer’s home or office
Got a hesitating customer trying to decide about a big ticket item? The decision-making process frequently becomes a little bit easier when you offer free delivery/shipping.

7. Make gift wrapping a present for your customer
Sometimes the hardest part of getting a gift is ensuring it’s properly packaged. If you take care of that, it’s one less thing for the buyer to obsess over.

By providing superior service with style and a smile, you’ll increase customer satisfaction and ensure your ongoing success.

Want more ideas about bringing in business? I can help. I’ve been a retail reporter at Women’s Wear Daily and Home Furnishings News, a columnist at the Miami Herald and a correspondent at People magazine.

I’ve also handled the marketing and public relations at major corporations and small businesses. Need a speaker or a consultant? Get in touch at ringupmoresales@gmail.com. Or, for easy and effective ways to bring in more business, read Ka-Ching! How to Ring Up More Sales.

Copyright © 2011 Laurel Tielis

Filed under: business, retail Tagged: | customer relations, customer retention, marketing, public relations