What is the key to success in business?

This is the million dollar question.  Many books have been written on this topic - most offer a formula or techniques.  Unfortunately, these usually fall short of delivering the success they promise.

So, back to the original question.  What is the key to success in business?

Does the best product in the market guarantee success?  What about the best location?  The best price?  Which is the "secret"?

The answer: NONE

Think about it.  The best product does not guarantee success, nor does the best location, or the lowest price.

The key to the success of any business is simple - an endless supply of satisfied customers.

The customer is the key to the success of any business.  If you have enough customers, you have a successful business.

Now that you know the "secret" - what should you do?

The first step is to conduct a realistic assessment of your current level of customer service - are you taking care of the customers you already have?  Take surveys, give comment cards and do not dismiss the feedback (the customer that complains helps us to improve).  Be aware of the "quiet" customer.  He/she may be very unhappy, but too polite to say anything.  They will not complain, even worse, they will take their business somewhere else.

My point: Never assume the customers are happy just because they are not complaining.

While doing this assessment, remember that no matter how good you are at providing customer service, you can always improve.  Just because you are good, does not mean your staff does not need additional training.  Everyone who excels in any area of life needs continuous practice - excellence never happens accidentally.  If you want to provide excellent customer service on a consistent basis, you need to be intentional.

Also, consider your company from the customer's perspective.  Do they enjoy their interaction with you?  You need to make this experience so enjoyable that they look forward to coming back. 

Consider what you can do to make the patient's experience more enjoyable.  If you were a patient, what would you change?

The other day, a friend of mine (who happens to be an amputee), shared a concern she had.

She was upset about the condition of the parking lot at our clinic.  She said it was not in acceptable condition.  So, I drove down to the clinic to take a look and clean it up.

When I arrived, I looked at the sidewalk and the parking lot.  It seemed fine to me.  However, I am not an amputee.  I do not live with the same fears and hesitations.

She told me the parking lot was icy around the handicap spots.  The spots were clear, but it was slippery between the cars - where she had to walk.

For me, this reinforced the importance of viewing our business from the customer's perspective.  I thought the parking lot was in good shape, but my opinion is irrelevant.  What matters is that our customers did not feel safe in our parking lot. 

Always view your business from the customer's perspective.  Pay attention to the little things - they are extremely important.

Too many organizations assume that they are providing excellent customer service. However, I would challenge that assumption.

Consider the following:

• How do you define customer service? Does your customer have the same definition?
• What are the customer’s expectations? How often do you exceed their expectations?

If you truly want to provide excellent customer service, and more importantly, reap the rewards of providing excellent customer service, then you must seriously consider these questions.

Customer service has many definitions. However, the definition is not important. What is important is what this "looks" like. Customer service is demonstrated by the ability of an organization to meet the needs of their customers. This is the "bare minimum."

However, I believe that meeting the needs of your customers is not enough.

The standard which we should strive for is excellent customer service. This happens when an organization consistently exceeds the customer’s expectations (i.e under promise and over deliver).

The key to remember in providing excellent customer service is consistency. It is easy for an organization to perform at this level occasionally, or even for a few people in the company to consistently exceed expectations. However, all the people within an organization must consistently exceed expectations. This must become the accepted minimum standard. When the expectations of the customer are exceeded on a regular basis, then, your company has reached the level of excellent customer service.

Regardless of your company’s current level of customer service, you have the opportunity to improve. Whether you are good, bad, excellent or awful, improving customer service is a choice. It can be done by simply making a commitment to learning the basics and applying these on a daily basis.

Excellent customer service is not rocket science; in fact, it is the opposite. Customer service is common sense. Unfortunately, common sense isn’t so common.

How many times have you been in line at the grocery store and the cashier is talking to the bagger, and neither of them acknowledges your presence (much less make you feel like a valued customer)? Have you ever asked an employee at a retail store a question only to get the response "I dunno" as they walk away These are examples of little things that make a big difference.

As you will discover, the little things matter when it comes to customer service. Or as Benjamin Franklin once said, "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."

Translation: pay attention to the details.