Seven Signs You’re A Good Customer

Or A Checklist – Would You Do Business With Yourself?

This is, traditionally, a blog that addresses home electrical first, home improvement second, and customer service third.  Today, we’re going to do something a little backwards – by looking at what makes someone a good customer.  When dealing with a small, service-based business like ours, good customers are the only kind we can afford to have!  Not only that, but our reputation – both virtual, and real – is dependant on building a strong rapport with happy customers.  This is a relationship – and relationships require work.  Great relationships require work on both sides.  So ask yourself – are you a good customer?  Are you the kind of customer you would like to do business with?

1. Everyone Deserves Respect

While this might seem self-explanatory or redundant, it is easy to forget how we are behaving when we become frustrated or angry.  In order to be better customers we should treat other people with respect – try not to take your frustrations out on the people trying to help you.  Also, imagine you were working, and apply the golden rule: treat employees the way you want to be treated.  Respect the person serving you and yourself well enough to take a deep breath before reacting, and remember that the best way for you to be understood is to understand the person you are speaking with.  By contributing to a mutual environment of respect, you will empower the person helping you to do a better job and to be more effective.

2. Courtesy Is Everything

Being a good customer – especially in bad circumstances – is extremely challenging.  It’s hard to keep your anger in check and not resort to making threats or threatening the person helping you.  But it is important to separate your frustration with a company or it’s policies from the person helping you.  Try to give the company – and the employee – the opportunity to make things right or solve the problem.  Practicing patience will make the person helping you feel more inclined to help, instead of chasing them away or making them shut down.  Ask yourself – is your unhappiness a direct product of the employee who is trying to help you?

3. Pay Attention

Did you bring your coupon for your special discount?  Did you read the signs at the register saying this checkout stand only accepts credit cards?  Is the special sale item you were hoping to purchase still available?  Have you completed the documentation for your rebate correctly?  Did you hang up your cell phone and give the person serving you your undivided attention?  Little things – like details – can make a huge difference between a good service experience and a bad one.

4. Please and Thank You Still Work

These words are still magic.  Please remember to use them – thank you!

5. Nobody Is Perfect

We are all human, and mistakes happen.  It doesn’t mean it’s bad, or anyone’s fault – but it does mean there is a chance to adjust your expectations.  Understanding that everyone has limitations, including you or me, and that everyone mis-steps once in a while can help build a better interaction.

6. Being Nice Can Be Fun

The helpful person who puts things back on a rack or shelf when they knock them off or decide not to buy them makes everyone’s life easier.  And above all else – it is fun to be a good customer: to smile, laugh, and enjoy your service or shopping experience.  Treating the people who serve you not just as faceless employees but as real beings will earn you the same regard – and let’s be honest, no one wants to be that guy.  Being nice has it’s own rewards!

7. Be A Great Customer – Give Feedback

You might not realize it – but every business does want to get better, and should constantly be remodelling their customer service methods.  They can’t make the right changes or any improvements at all, really, without quality customer feedback.  This doesn’t just mean complaining when things go wrong – it also means communicating when things go right!  Whether your experience was good, bad, or mediocre, an honest accountability of how things went will help the business to prevent negative things from occurring and provide employees with a template for how to handle circumstances when things do go south.  Above all else, don’t give ‘sandwiches’ – hiding negative feedback or critiques in between a bunch of praise; doing this confuses the issue and allows businesses to only pick out the ‘good stuff’.  Instead, be honest and straightforward so that improvement can be made from the bottom up.  Good feedback is constructive, positive feedback is recognizing or rewarding, negative feedback is corrective criticism, and bad feedback sounds mostly like angry ranting and raving.  And if all else fails, just post a review so other potential customers know your feelings, and how your experience was.

The truth of the matter is that being a great customer can strengthen and empower your favorite businesses.  That doesn’t mean that every job will be a good one, or you’ll spend lots of money – it just means that the business will grow and learn from you, and hopefully you will do the same.  Bad customers can cost a company money, piece of mind, happiness, and worst of all – good customers.

Do you have a customer service experience – good or bad – to share?  Don’t be shy, post it in the comments below!

Swartz Electric – Your Colorado Springs Electrician performs electrical work throughout Colorado Springs, Monument, Black Forest, Fountain, Falcon, Woodland Park, and everywhere in between. We are the electricians in Colorado Springs to solve your electrical problems and meet your electrical requirements.

Call, e-mail, visit our website, or stop by our office today, and allow Swartz Electric to serve YOU.

This is an original article written by Mai Bjorklund for Swartz Electric. This article may not be copied whole or in part without the express permission of Swartz Electric, LLC.

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