Related Articles

Who Says the Customer is Always Right?
We all know the old adage, "The Customer is Always Right." If you are an online business owner or offline for that matter, you are on both sides of the subject almost everyday.

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Listen to Suggestions
If you are up to your ears in a stressful situation, it becomes difficult to think clearly. Sometimes, it is best to walk away from a problem, and think about it, rather than try to solve it with an instant solution.

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Make Sure You Get The Customer Perspective
Businesses that fail, often forget to seek out the customer perspective. I have talked to some folks at businesses that were less than succesful, and when asked if they actively seek out customer comments, the answer invariably is no.

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Whats Love Got To Do With It?
Customer Loyalty, we all want it. Don't we?Some people say it's dead - they say that customers are fickle, that they don't want loyalty, that they just want the lowest price and the fastest way to get it.

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How to Succeed in Business Without Compromising Your Integrity
I spent some twenty years in the corporate world, for much of it I was not particularly interested in spirituality. It was a world where profits reigned supreme, often with little respect for the rest of society.

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Develop Loyal Customers for a Lifetime - part 1 (1 - 10)
Traditional marketing strategies encourage business owners to continually grow their businesses by adding new customers. In today's competitive world of business, it is more important than ever to aim for more transactions with existing customers by using the power of customer follow-up and attention to good service.

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Losing Angry Customers
This article offers five ways to help you deal with angry customers. While the goal of all businesses is to have only happy customers, we also have to be realistic and realize sometimes we are going to anger a customer.

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Making the Connection: Customer Relationships That Build Your Business
Have you ever wondered why you often find a coupon tucked inside your cereal box, or get invited to a customer preview sale at your favorite department store? Those companies know that their existing customers are the best - and most profitable - customers they'll ever have. So it's not surprising that they'll do whatever they can to keep these customers happy and coming back again and again.

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Leverage Customer Capital First
If you're still dreaming about raising outside capital for your business before you have any paying customers, I've got a nice big bucket of ice water to throw on you. Wake up! The cold reality is that investors aren't interested in your business idea unless you can demonstrate that you've got customers who are actually willing to buy.

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Turning Customer Mistakes Into Raving Fans
When you make a mistake with a customer, should you write them off as lost -- never to return again?Nope. There have been numerous studies which show that a customer who has had a problem and gotten it resolved in a timely manner and to their satisfaction is a more loyal customer than one who has never had a problem.

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Accountants / Lawyers Do Yourself a Favor - What do Your Customers Want?
In my day to day practice in strategic human resource management I often come across customers looking for a 'good' accountant or 'good lawyer'. As an accountant myself the common thread for a 'good acountant or lawyer' seems to be 'I want someone who can explain things in plain english without the jargon'.

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What Type Of Software Is This?
The other day while at the book store, I came across some accounting software CDs strewn with other CDs and books in garage sale box.How can any self respecting businessman (even a small one at that) pick up a copy of this cheap sale accounting CD from the box for his business to use? He'd think "what type of accounting system is this that would end up in a garage sale?".

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Whats The Customer Service Buzz About Your Business?
If you're a regular reader of my column you know that my number one pet peeve is bad customer service. Nothing chaps my backside more than paying hard-earned money for a product or service only to have the provider of said product or service become apathetic, obnoxious or just downright rude after the transactional smoke has cleared.

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Customer Service - A Lost Art?
Is customer service a lost art? Before you answer that question, take a moment and think about the last few times you have gone shopping or out to dinner. Okay, now that you have really thought about it, is your answer any different?Why is it that when we actually DO receive excellent customer service that it makes such an impression on us that we usually choose to go back? Why - because the occurrences are so few and far between!!!As a home business owner, it is imperative to my business that customer service is ALWAYS a top priority.

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Setting Up a Customer of the Week Program for a Mobile Car Wash
In a mobile detail or mobile car wash business you are on a first name basis with your customers. You sink or swim with your ability to please your customer and rely on them to build your business by referring their friends, associates and neighbors.

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The death of customer servie
The other day a reporter call to interview me on the "Death of Customer Service". My first reaction was to deny that charge and claim that customer service is very much alive and well.

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Customer Service and The Human Experience
Historically, customer service was delivered over the phone or in person. Customers didn't have many choices, and switching to competitors was cumbersome.

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Small Business Customer Service Can Work Against You
Is the special treatment you designed specifically to keep customers coming back working against you?A local jeweler offers free lifetime battery replacement for any watch he sells. It's a good hook to keep customers walking back in the store on a regular basis and increases his sales volume.

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How to Provide Instant Customer Service
Customer service is an essential component of any business. Clearly, if you work alone your business thrives on good customer service.

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We Got It Wrong: Never Under Promise & Over Deliver
You know how it is, you believe something for so long, everyone agrees with you, all the books tell you it's true and then suddenly you have a blinding revelation - we've all been duped! You know like my gorilla mates were? (If you're not sure about my gorilla mates then you really need to read the book - we've got a great offer on at the moment!)And you feel such a chump - how did I ever fall for that - the logic just isn't there - I must have been a fool. Let me explain.

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