If your marketing strategy to beat the competition is: we provide better customer service…think again.

In a recent article, Ben Yoskovitz at the Instigator Blog posted a really good article about using customer service as a differentiator.

one of the areas where companies (startups and non-startups) continue to fall flat on their faces is customer service and support. It’s amazing to me that so few companies do a great job when it comes to treating customers well and responding to them in a timely and professional manner.

Just about every last word of his article is a must-read for any small business owner. Especially those in trade-skill jobs like plumbing, heating and air, construction, etc. - they all seem to really blow it when it comes to customer service.

The only thing I obviously disagree with is that it’s a differentiator at all…it’s not, outstanding customer service is an expectation, not a differentiator. Nobody will willingly enter into a business transaction with someone they expect to mis-treat them. Ben even acknowledges this begrudgingly,

It’s not always easy to sell customer service to customers.

I think that’s putting it lightly…in my experience, it’s almost impossible to sell great customer service. Great customer service is something that’s only appreciated after it’s been received.

Should you ignore customer service?

Heck no! I think Ben is right on the money when he talks about its affects on referrals and repeat business. I’m a huge fan of working your existing clients to increase your revenue and that’s a non-starter if you aren’t providing outstanding customer service. Referrals and repeat business take less time to sell and market and thus are components to putting your small business on auto-pilot.

Takeaway: great customer service is a requirement. Yes, your competition may not provide it, but you need to find other ways to position yourself to prospective clients…then you MUST deliver great customer service to keep them coming back!

Welcome back again!