Setting Customer Expectations and Empowering Employees to Solve Problems – Small Business Show 165

Ever been frustrated when you’re waiting for a service provider to show up or a product to arrive and they/it are late? Today we turn the tables and discuss this problem as it relates to your Small Business performance and the importance of setting, then meeting (ideally exceeding!) your customers expectations. It’s time for episode 165 of the Small Business Show!

Both Dave and Shannon have experiences they want to share with you about not having their expectations met when working with other businesses and how that impacted them, as well as the disruption is can cause at the company performing the work. The discussion focuses on how to set the customer expectation and how to manage communication during the process, so even if you can’t fulfill that expectation, your customers will still be happy.

We then jump into ways to insure that your customer feels valued and why breaking bad news early and transparently can earn you customer loyalty. Then it’s on to talk and tips about empowering your employees to solve problems without having to seek approval from you or their supervisor and why saying “Yes” more will bring on the customer love.

Listen in and then join the discussion on the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #165 for Wednesday, April 4, 2018
• 00:01:27 To-Do Lists
  • BusyCal
• 00:03:43 Customer Services Tales
• 00:04:48 Irving
• 00:06:25 Set that expectation
• 00:10:30 Then manage to that expectation
• 00:13:36 Missed expectations are massively disruptive to everyone
• 00:15:16 Own the communication of bad news
• 00:16:10 Quote hours, not days
• 00:17:45 Make the customer feel like they matter
• 00:18:41 Communicate that value
• 00:20:59 Why do these service companies fail at this over and over again?
• 00:23:48 SPONSOR: Simple Contacts – Get $30 off at simplecontacts.com/sbs or enter SBS at checkout
• 00:28:07 Apple
• 00:32:28 We Screwed Up
• 00:36:07 The Lesson is to find an empowered employee
• 00:36:56 Empowerment Translates to Importance
• 00:38:41 When you say “Yes” The Customer Loves You
• 00:41:18 Shannon’s Contractor Sucked the joy out of the project
• 00:42:04 The moral: set expectations, empower employees
• 00:43:00 What would it take to change this?
• 00:44:16 SBS 165 Outtro

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