The Better You Treat Your Customers, the Bigger Your Business Will Be

80’s rocker Pat Benatar was onto something when she sang the song “Treat Me Right,” because that’s how you grow your business.

Benatar was referring to how her guy treated her, but the same can be said for any relationship, especially business.

Canadians are a funny bunch. When we don’t get treated well, we get very quiet, and at the first opportunity, dart towards the exit to escape the situation. Americans on the other hand, will make a mega-stink, yelling, screaming, threatening, until they get a discount, or some other perk from the freaked out store staff, hoping the hot head will just leave them alone.

That’s according to numerous studies where Canadian and American reactions to poor customer service have been studied.

Canadians, leave, never to go back again. Americans, yell and scream.

However, there was one common thread between both Canadian and Americans that received bad customer service. Both told everyone they knew about it.

Be it Canadians, crying about it to their friends for support, or Americans, complaining about their experience with their family, regardless of which side of North America you’re on, if you piss off a customer, everyone will hear about it.

Because of the Internet and social media, news travels faster than ever before. And bad news seems to travel the fastest, because none of us wants to go through the same bad experiences as someone else.

So, bad customer service can really harm your business.

But if you want to grow your business, having exceptional customer service will do just that. Your customers will turn into repeat customers, because people want to experience good service again.

Even more importantly, thanks to social media, the better the experience, the more likely you’ll get exceptional mentions on the social networks.

From positive posts on Facebook, excellent reviews on Yelp, and loads of great pics on Instagram – social media has changed the way we respond to good and bad customer service.

I was thinking of going for a burger a while back, and wanted to check out one of those new gourmet burger joints. I checked online for reviews, and found several good ones. However, one bad review went so far as to mention how the person handling the raw beef to make the burgers did not wash his hands when they served customers.

So, I decided although the other reviews were good, I didn’t want to get food poisoning, so I went someplace else for dinner that night. I have never been to that restaurant, and may never go, simply because of that one bad review.

When strangers on social networks can influence purchasing decisions, you’d better make sure your company has the best service par none.

Otherwise, you could be losing customers you never even knew you were losing – thanks to our always on, social media world.

Always strive to provide the best service possible. And when things go wrong, as they often do, do whatever is humanly possible to make it right.

I’ve gone places where my friends said they had nasty things happen, because the staff corrected the problem right away.

No one is perfect, so mistakes happen.

Fix them!

Your customers will be happy, and will share your good deeds with their friends, and that will grow your business.