by Lisa Bjurstrom

Created on: November 01, 2009

How can I help you?

These are the words spoken multiple times daily by customer service professionals around the world. While it is not only the customer service representatives who perform the task, they are the ones we look to in order to have our needs met.

In today's global marketplace, customer service has grown into a more valued entity. Universities are now offering classes dealing with customer service issues. Awards are given out measuring customer satisfaction. Studies are done to show how customer contact affects the customer's purchasing trends. Due to this knowledge, many companies' customer service groups are now in closer contact with the sales and marketing areas. Some are simply combining customer service with inside sales.

Customer service means product knowledge, company knowledge, technical support and sales. It means being the one-stop shop. Help the customer to the best of your ability, and follow up. If you don't, your competitor will and may gain their business in the future.

The customer is the most important resource to your company's success. Your customer not only establishes your business, your customer drives it. How are decisions made on product development and improvement? It is based on customer feedback. And why should your customer add your new product to their store instead of your competitor's similar model? Excellent customer service available to answer any questions on the benefits of this new product will help with this sale!

Customer service is the voice of the customer to management. It is the duty of the service representative to pass along information on customer trends or impressions. This is one way businesses find out when a product must be re-called. It is also how a decision is made for people to work over-time in order to get a project completed timely for a worried, upset customer. Most customer service representatives feel empathy, and identify with their customer's concerns. We are all customers in the global market.

What is customer service? It is sending a gift to your customer who just had a baby. It is getting to know your customer personally, and understanding what is important to them. It is saying How can I help you? and doing just that. Satisfy your customer to the best of your ability and follow up to be sure they have what they need. By remembering that your customer fuels your business, you will provide the foundation for building more success together.

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