Guest Blog: Commandments to Build Customer Advocates for Your Small Business

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post my colleague, Mike Schoultz, shares great ideas on what you can do to create customer advocates for your business. Customer advocates can only help our business and create important loyalty.– Shep Hyken

Here is a simple but powerful rule – always give people more than they expect. – Nelson Boswell

Customer evangelism is something companies and marketing agencies have talked about for years. Often though, big companies get all the attention in this area. I am about to tell you how to build customer advocates for your small business. But first, I need to ask you an important question.

How often, as a customer, do you experience WOW customer service … the type that you normally can’t imagine? Average or less customer service seems like the norm in many small businesses. In some it’s so common that when we provide great service, we yield customers who feel like they’ve won the lottery, if only for a moment. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Customer service tips to create customer advocates are not rocket science.

We often get a questions and comments on customer service from clients and people commenting on our blog. Many relate to customer service actions that are reminders of what we already know (but we occasionally forget). These are bid enablers of customer service. They usually won’t create WOW service on their own, but their absence is noted by customers and makes excellent customer service just good or less.

Related: How Marriott Courtyard Turned Customer Failure into Service Recovery

As we work with companies to help them in improving customer service and creating customer advocates, some things stand out. These are things a lot of small businesses don’t do consistently. Yet if they did they’d find the quality of their customer service would improve and their customer loyalty would increase.

Here are seven things you can do to create customer advocates no matter what size your company is.

Talk to your customers

Have real person-to-person conversations with as many customers as you can. If you have a lot of customers relative to your employees, then you’ll need to prioritize. Find ways to have real, meaningful and ongoing conversations with them. Your goal is to make a friend and start a relationship.

Seek first to understand

When a customers are telling you their issue, give them your complete attention. Customers consistently tell us they hate dealing with employees who don’t listen, pay attention, or don’t seem to care.

Serve their needs

Of course you’re doing this to make your company better. But everything you do in your customer evangelism effort needs to be useful from your customer’s perspective. Educate them while you engage them. Always do things in ways that are useful to and respectful of your customers. Keep that as your primary focus.

Always greet customers promptly and with a smile

When talking with a new customer, give them your full name and get theirs right away. This makes your conversation more personal and enables you to better connect with your customer.

It also tells your customer you’re willing to be accountable for helping them because if you don’t, they know who you are!

Remember one thing

Remember one thing about each customer you meet. People do business with people. Make your actions personal. Customers should want to do business with you because of you and your employees. Make your customers “feel at home.” You may have a great location, cool displays, great signage, etc. That’s all great, but if your people can’t make your customers feel welcome and appreciated, all of the other doesn’t matter.

The bottom line

Your job as a businessman is simple. It is not just to create a customer; it is to create a customer who also creates customers.

Mike Schoultz is a writer, digital marketer, and owner/operator of a small consulting agency. He loves helping small businesses improve their success. He is on his third career, so his biggest goals are making a difference in these businesses. You can connect with him on LinkedIn, Twitter @mikeschoultz, G+, or his agency website Digital Spark Marketing.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com . Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article:

The Year Of The Customer: 16 Customer Service And Experience (CX) Trends For 2016

The post Guest Blog: Commandments to Build Customer Advocates for Your Small Business appeared first on Shep Hyken.