Even Basic Customer Service Can Go a Long Way

In my own home business where I do a lot of consulting now days, I am often reaping the benefit of my peers' businesses failures. I never thought it was a big deal to return calls and to always deliver an answer to a prospect or client (even if the answer was "I can't help you with that). But lately I have been getting clients simply through the failure of other businesses to do simple things like these.

Returning calls and answering questions is a very basic customer service concept. There is nothing advanced or difficult about it. And I have to wonder why some businesspeople drop the ball on simple things like these. But as long as they do, I will be there to pick up their clients for them.

Even if you cannot address the client's question, that is not an excuse for no response. Maybe you can't help them directly, but use that opportunity to give a referral for someone else. As your business grows, so will your referral network. If they stump you with a difficult question, it's ok to say, "I'll have to look into that and get back to you." There's nothing wrong with that as long as you follow through and do get to them.

Just the other day, someone told me how much he appreciated me keeping him informed. He expressed dissatisfaction with the last person he worked with and was appreciative of such "little" things. So in your home based business, don't forget those basic things; they can make a big difference.