More and more small businesses realize that in order to keep customers and conduct successful business they need to provide Customer Care. Whether you have a small flower shop, an online store parts store or develop custom software, you need some sort of a customer care. And don’t forget: it take a dollar to keep one customer happy, while it takes ten dollars to get a new one!

Steps

1. Develop a Customer Care strategy
2. Decide who is your customer: buyers of your products, your vendors, your suppliers, your employees, etc.
3. Decide how you will support them: what is the most common issue they have?
4. Think of possible things that can go wrong with your customer’s order or service first, write them down, write how you typically solve the problem
5. Start keeping track of your typical solutions: start with FAQs and detailed ones as you encounter them
6. Once you have more then a dozen customers – get a Help Desk tracking software. Start with free ones, like Google based helpdesk. If you have a PC or a web site server – download and install the software on it. If you don’t – subscribe for hosted access (they host it – you just use it)
7. Keep Customers aware of your policies, put it online
8. Its a good idea to tell them how fast you resolve issues. Go extra mile create Service Level Agreements (SLA).
9. Don’t be afraid to send emails telling customers their problem is resolved
10. Have an online store? Must have an online customer care system with customer access, where they can register and see their own questions, FAQs, your return Policies, etc.
11. Accept emails, chat, allow creating questions and cases online
12. Gather Feedback and always follow up!
13. Remember: even if you are small – you must be competitive. In order to compete successfully in today’s world – you must be great to your customers!

Tips

• Always start with a clean strategy
• Alwyas define your product policies in writing and stand by them
• Start small with a free Customer Care software
• Make sure that you can add modules as your company grows (and it must grow if you Care for your customers!)

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