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Make Your Business Remarkable

FinanceLegacy

I admit it. I was skeptical when Glenn Ross claimed that Joel Spolsky had written the best customer service post of the month. But Spolsky's Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service fills the bill. As he says, the use of "remarkable" wasn't careless. "The goal is to provide customer service so good that people remark."

Spolsky is in the software business, and his first step sounded at first like the post was for tech businesses.  It's not.  Read on. In fact, his Step #1 is one of my favorites: Fix everything two ways. Don't just fix the immediate problem. Solve what caused the problem so other customers won't encounter it.

Another favorite is Step #4: Take the blame. Learn how to say, "It's my fault." There's no more effective way to defuse an angry customer. All the steps are worth reading and incorporating into your business. Good customer service is an attitude.

Profile: Mary Sullivan

Mary Sullivan is a charter member of the Lee Hecht Harrison Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Group. She is currently writing a book about people who left corporate careers to start their own businesses.