One Of The Easiest Ways To Get Free Publicity

There have been many times that I stopped patroning a store or service company because of horrendous customer service. Whether your small business is part of a large franchise or you run your own business – your customer service is a major part of your small businesses brand and public relations strategy.

I drive to a dry cleaner in the next town because my dry cleaner goes the extra mile with my order (no pun intended).

He carries dry cleaning to my car and puts it in there for me. He runs my blouses through several times to remove stains – without me asking. His elite customer service is part of his brand and serving as his public relations. I am always telling friends how top notch my dry cleaner is, which essentially is giving him free PR.

I could probably save money using coupons for a dry cleaner in my town, but I received bad customer service just ONE day a few years back and I moved on.

Remember the Saturn commercials from 10-15 years ago? It was a start-up brand that built its reputation on superior customer service. Commercials showed customers enjoying themselves while shopping for a Saturn.

They were treated with respect, given food to eat and were taken care of even after their purchase. Saturn focused on its “no haggle” pricing to appeal to consumers who just wanted to go into one of their dealerships to buy a car. People who had good customer service shared their experience with others, becoming what I have coined “public relations ambassadors.”

I have a client who owns a medical spa in New Jersey. She is super sensitive to the quality of her customer service. I walked in to receive a treatment one day and there was no one at the front desk to greet me. I could not find a single employee. I thought: “What if I was a new customer coming in for information about receiving a service?”

I decided that I would have walked out just as fast as I walked in. I mentioned this to my client and explained to her that if the front desk person needed to leave her post, she needed some sort of sign on the reception desk telling people to have a seat and that someone will be there shortly.

The next time I came in, a sign was posted on the reception desk greeting me, asking me to sign in and have seat. And most importantly, it let me know that someone will be with me shortly. My client understands the power of customer service and took my advice quickly. In this case, it was just a simple sign to serve as backup for when a LIVE person was not available. I just love when clients take my advice!

Start building your customer service public relations machine by making sure the people who answer your phones are informed about your company and most importantly know how to work your phone system. It is easy to deter new customers if their calls are dropped because the receptionist doesn’t know how to put calls through voicemail.

Make sure temporary employees have access to phone directories and instructions on how to use your telephone system. Make sure they are told how to greet callers and guests.

If you train your employees to properly engage customers and provide superior customer service, you will have customers and clients who become your very own public relations ambassadors.

– Shakira