Creation of a company. Customer service
Work with clients is by far the most important item on the list of ways to create a successful developing company. Creating a good product today is not difficult, but few can consolidate the success. And this is due, first of all, to that firm but erroneous belief that the production of a good product (work, service) a priori will pay off any investments. But in fact (especially for a new company) competent work with clients will allow to be successful.
Before reading the article, I would like to acquaint you with a brief summary of the author. At the moment, I am not the owner of my business; however, for 9 years I have been familiar with trade, and even had a bad experience creating my own small business. All published articles at this point in time are a theory that can at any time become part of a business plan, and when I publish here, I do not aim to give advice to an inexperienced businessman, but to provide for general review the stages of creating a new enterprise. I am of the opinion that the structure of many different types of firms is very similar, therefore the theses that I have indicated in my previous articles can be universal and will suit all start-up firms whose goal is to become successful and to exist in the market for a long time.
Therefore, I will be glad to hear constructive criticism, where my judgments are critical and may jeopardize the development and existence of the company.
Before reading the article, I would like to acquaint you with a brief summary of the author. At the moment, I am not the owner of my business; however, for 9 years I have been familiar with trade, and even had a bad experience creating my own small business. All published articles at this point in time are a theory that can at any time become part of a business plan, and when I publish here, I do not aim to give advice to an inexperienced businessman, but to provide for general review the stages of creating a new enterprise. I am of the opinion that the structure of many different types of firms is very similar, therefore the theses that I have indicated in my previous articles can be universal and will suit all start-up firms whose goal is to become successful and to exist in the market for a long time.
Therefore, I will be glad to hear constructive criticism, where my judgments are critical and may jeopardize the development and existence of the company.
So. Customer service
- It is necessary to keep a record of all interactions with the client and have the most informative database of clients. All calls must be recorded, for the b2b market all information about the client must be collected (as correct as possible for the client). The organizational requirement naturally arises - customer service managers should always have access to the interaction base, and, most importantly, have the motivation to work with these interactions: create new ones, edit existing ones, process current ones, and so on.
- Information for the client about prices should be open and easily accessible. It is difficult to find objective reasons that sometimes it is very difficult to find out the cost of a product, work or service. Perhaps this is one of the means of competition. The second version - prices are constantly changing and depend on different parameters. But these reasons are easy to refute. Firstly, there should always be competitors, and they should not be afraid, since there are no completely identical companies that provide exactly the same services in terms of cost, quality, service, warranty and other parameters: something will always be different. This “something” is your competitive advantage. Moreover, price as a competitive advantage is rarely at the top of the list of company selection criteria. Secondly, a constantly changing price is a sign of an unstable company. The only parameter which can really and objectively influence the constant change in prices - this is the exchange rate of foreign currencies, and this is only when the purchase of imported equipment or raw materials. But in this case, it is better to set a constant price in arbitrary units. If the customer is stopped only by the price, then this is only the customer’s objection, which is an element of the sales technology - there will be a separate article about it.
- A comprehensive solution to the problem (question, task) of the client. If the client made a non-standard request, the answer “We don’t know” is a reference to the non-profit community of the past, when the issues were resolved “Take what is”. You can’t say: “We don’t have it”, even if we don’t do it. It is necessary to find as soon as possible what the client wants and give it to him. It is necessary to solve all emerging customer issues. In this case, you must not go too far and be able to stop on time in an attempt to please a client who can simply
- Organize all decisions and solutions to various situations, form your sales technology. Compose documented, reasonable answers to your client. This will appeal to you and your customers. Therefore, it is best to understand what CRM should be and what IT tools should be used.