Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

Sometimes when thinking what to write in this space, readers provide the inspiration as is the case this week regarding customer service. A recent columnist for the Northern Wyoming News discussed the importance of customer service and an astute reader brought by an old Wyoming Business Tips column from the University of Wyoming.

This got me thinking that perhaps more needs to be said regarding customer service.

The University of Wyoming Business Tips column provided some good tips for businesses in helping them and their employees offer great customer service and we will get to that in a moment. But, first let’s discuss why customer service is important. Sarah Hamlin, who at the time was a business advisor for the Wyoming Small Business Development Center Network, wrote in the UW column from 2016, “Interacting with your customers and potential customers in a way that is helpful and informed is one of the quickest ways for you to build relationships, creating repeat customers.” That is the bottom line, repeat customers.

In my opinion businesses fail at customer service when they take their customers for granted. In large cities, they figure one customer leaving won’t hurt their business. In small communities, I think sometimes employees and perhaps even employers figure they are the only game in town so customers have no choice but to return.

At the Northern Wyoming News we appreciate every reader, every subscriber and if someone can’t log on to read their online subscription or the print subscription was not delivered then we do what we can, as soon as we can to make it right, including driving around the community to deliver a paper or two if needed, resetting passwords, walking people through the log in process on whatever new device they may have.

Recently I was out of town visiting a friend and we went to two competing stores in that community. One was busier than the other and my friend said it was probably because the busier one was newer. But, after having made purchases at both places I told her I wondered if it wasn’t the customer service. At the busier store the cashier had a friendly greeting for us and checking out was a pleasant experience. At the less busy store, the cashier never spoke a word except to tell me the total cost of my purchase. I would rather go back to the store where I felt welcomed.

I think of times when I have gone to busy restaurants. When you go in and you see a restaurant is busy, you expect the wait time for your food to likely be a little longer. What makes the wait more enjoyable is when the wait staff ensures you are not forgotten, even while they are busy with other customers.

A customer needs to feel welcomed, acknowledged and important to you and your employees.

Hamlin’s customer service tips included:

--Make sure your staff is informed about the ads that are running, updates in your catalog and any online promotions. An uninformed salesperson cannot address the questions and concerns of your customer. This is the perfect opportunity to show off your knowledgeable staff as one asset over the competition.

--Greet everyone who walks through the door. Challenge your employees to make this fun, inviting and engaging for your customer.

--Encourage your staff members to introduce themselves to customers (by name) when they walk in or answer the phone. This provides an extra special touch that helps build a trusting relationship between your staff and customers.

--Educate your staff on what other events and sales are happening around town. For every $100 spent in our communities, $68 stays locally. By reminding customers what other products or services they can get locally, you are helping to encourage the “shop small” mentality that makes all of us successful.

(Working for the newspaper has advantages as you usually know about most of the major events in the community but many businesses I have found do not know, not just here, but in other communities in the Basin as well. We need to know our community and what is going on in our community to be of better service to our customers and that takes extra effort.)

And finally, Hamlin ends with “Good customer service, especially in a busy season, is what customers will remember about you. It is one of the reasons that they will come back and shop with you again.” (In turn, bad customer service is also what customers will remember and be a reason that they do not return but rather turn to online shopping or shopping out of town.)