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How to improve customer trustHow To Make Sure Your Customers Still Trust Your Small BusinessThe stock market is still on a wild roller coaster ride. Trust in business is at an all time low. Do your customers still trust you? Here are seven ways to help you make sure. 1. Go the extra mile. Under promise and over deliver - a time worn concept that still works every time. Be there for your customers and show them how reliable you are. It's your actions that count, not your words. 2. Provide spectacular customer service - every time. Have a friend or colleague visit your business and provide feedback from a customer's perspective. 3. Make sure your front and back office work like a well-oiled machine. Do your front line employees and back office staff tell your customers the same thing? 4. Manage your customer relationships - return customers take the least amount of effort - use that to your advantage. Keep in touch often. 5. Communicate, communicate, communicate - with your employees and your customers. Nurture those relationships. Ask for feedback often. 6. Take responsibility. Don't pass the buck. If you can't personally handle a customer issue, make sure that you hand the customer off gracefully. 7. Meet commitments. Commitments guarantee that something will get done. They're also a way to manage the customer's expectations. Make commitments you can keep. A kept commitment builds trust. A missed commitment destroys trust. And once trust is broken, it takes much longer to rebuild. Denise O'Berry is a small business expert who helps small business owners take action to grow their business. Learn more about how to be a successful small business owner at http://www.smallbiz-bootcamp.com
MORE RESOURCES: News provided by Yahoo! News and Google News Tories pat small biz heads in open source IT procurement pledge - Register Small Business Administration offers business boot camp (WMCTV Memphis) Loan tap tight for small biz, especially startups - New York Daily News Small Biz Spotlight: Slide to Play (Pt. 3) - Technorati (blog) Small biz ready to hire with increased risk appetite: study - Toronto Sun Small-Business Owners Get Free Help (KCRA 3 Sacramento) Kagen Holds Roundtable To Hear From Small Biz Owners - Sheboygan News (blog) |
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