There are two main ways to increase revenue, even in a recession:
SEO marketing
Good Customer Service

By giving consumers the best customer service you can beat out the larger corporations who are also your competitors. When customers are satitisfied, you retain customers and increase your companys bottom line.

Could better customer service mean more sales for your company? Of course.

Customer expectations are continuously increasing, and lets be honest. Bad customer service is everywhere these days. Delivering excellent customer service is paramount to any business's long-term success. Customers seek out products and services that are best able to satisfy their requirements: Filling a need, good customer service and price.

Customer loyalty is a major contributor to sustainable profit growth. To achieve success, you must make superior service second nature of your organization. A seamless integration of all components in the service-profit chain - employee satisfaction, value creation, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profit and growth - links all the critical dynamics of top customer service.

The fact is, companies that have been around for a while often forget the very thing that made them successful in the first place: their customers. They often lose focus on the customer and start focusing on the numbers and profits. They look for ways to cut costs or increase revenues, often at the expense of the customer. Hands down, one of the single most important aspects of a successful business is good customer service.

Great customer service is a key selling point that can set you apart from your competition, so making it convenient and easy for customers to do business with you can lead to new business and profitability.
Large companies tend to forget that satisfying customer needs and continuous value is the only path to sustainable growth. This creates opportunities for new, smaller companies to emulate and improve upon what made their bigger competitors successful in the first place and pull those customers their way.

Lets face it, the whole purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. If a business successfully creates and keeps customers in a cost-effective way, it will make a profit while continuing to survive and thrive, even in a recession. If, for any reason, a business fails to attract or sustain a sufficient number of customers, it will experience losses. Too many losses will lead to closing your business down.

In speaking with doing business in a recession, good customer service is even more vital as consumers patience tend to decrease during stressful periods such as in a slow or bad economy. Although there is a direct correlation between good customer service and higher sales, consistence is key.

Customers Are Your Bread and Butter, So Treat Them Right.

Studies have proven that effective customer service complaint handling is one of the top five drivers of brand loyalty. And yet for all the money spent on trying to understand customers and make them happy, an increasing number of people report being extremely upset about the way their complaints were handled. When bigcorporations get even bigger, many tend to place good customer service further down the priority list. This is a great opportunity for smaller businesses to step in.

Customer Care Measurement and Consulting in Virginia, together with Arizona State University, conducted the National Customer Rage Survey in 2004.

The researchers referenced a 1976 study conducted for the White House by the Technical Assistance Research Program (TARP) as their benchmark. In the TARP study, 32 % of those surveyed indicated that they had experienced a serious problem during the past year. In the 2004 study, this number rose to 43%.

This is clearly a jump in the wrong direction, even more remarkable in light of all the investments made in automated telephone response systems and call centres over the last three decades. North American companies have spent as much as $1.75 billion in software to help manage relationships with their customers.

All this begs the question, 'Why do we have more problems today than in 1976?' You might suspect quality problems but, as the researchers discovered, both product and service quality have improved.

The most important reason for dissatisfaction is linked to increased customer expectations. What customers really want is to be treated fairly. This doesn't seem unreasonable. Yet participants in the 2004 survey said it took an average of 4.3 interactions with a company to get a problem resolved. Researchers call this phenomenon 'ping-ponging.'

And let's face it, if you have to contact a company four or more times, how happy are you likely to be when the problem finally gets resolved?

In some cases, ping-ponging can be avoided. No one likes to disappoint a customer, but if you know the answer is going to be 'No,' it's better to say it right up front. Don't drag it out and make the customer get back to you while you 'check into it.'

According to the survery, respondents also cited the time it took to resolve complaints. Only 11% were resolved within 24 hours, 15% took one to seven days, 19% took more than 28 days and 46% of complainants said their problems were still outstanding months later. For situations that were resolved, 56% of respondents felt they got nothing as a result of their complaint.

In all likelihood, even if the company did give them something, if it takes 4.3 interactions over a month, customers probably feel as if they get nothing.

The study also found that most complainants didn't want free products or services as compensation. What they really wanted was an explanation (23% of respondents), an apology (25%), a chance to vent their frustrations (38%), and some assurance that the problem won't happen again (17%).

All of these things cost your company nothing, something any business can afford to do.

Whether you are a large corporation, or a small business owner, customers all want to same thing. Good customer service. Effective complaint handling practices produce brand loyalty, higher ROI's and increased profitability, yet many complaints are still poorly handled.
Perhaps companies that fail in this area are overcomplicating matters with unnecessary policies and procedures when a fair approach and a simple apology would suffice. No matter how your company approaches customer service, one thing is clear - the moral of the 2004 National Customer Rage Study is 'Do it right or don't do it.'

Being helpful, professional and friendly can build customer loyalty, and if missing, can drive them to a competitor.

Here are some tips to help you improve your customer service:
Be youself, Not a Script -LISTEN to what the customer is saying and respond to what's really going on.

Following through - Companies should take advantage of communication they are already having with their customers to find out how things are going by following-up.

(Phone) Add a smile to your voice. It's true, customers can detect your demeanor without even seeing your face. When you physically smile when taking a call, your customer can 'see' it in your voice.
Acknowledge the customer's issue by relaying it back to them to make sure you understand they're asking. It validates the customer and ensures that you understand the issue.

Return all emails promptly. Each email you receive represents someone who may be interested in doing business with you, or is awaiting an answer. Treat every email (or phone call) with the same sense of urgency you'd show if that person was standing in front of you.

Take ownership. When customers complain to you, it is your responsibility to find a solution. If you can't solve the situation yourself, bring the customer together with someone who can.

Make it Personal - When someone emails you with an inquiry or request, always respond by using their name in the e-mail and thanking them first and foremost for their interest/business.

Be specific. Rather than telling the customer you will provide an answer 'sometime next week,' put yourself on the line with a deadline. 'I'll have an answer to you no later than noon on Tuesday.'
Listen to customers: The temptation is to always be in selling mode, but try to tone down the sales pitch and deal with the situation at hand. Let your customers talk, actually listen to them and show that you are listening to them, and you will be able to accurately fulfill their particular needs.

Don't pass from pillar to post: If possible, deal with customer complaints / queries at their first point of contact. Nothing alienates customers faster than shuffling them to several different people to handle a simple matter.

Author: Nic Soto

About the author:
Niccolinas Soto is a founder and the CEO of PRDepotChicago.com, www.prdepotchicago.com, a U.S. based marketing firm whose innovative Search Engine Optimization services, and online PR campaigns help small and new businesses increase their visibility, traffic and sales. Employing a staff of 8, the firm's business comes from around the world, with clients from every industry. Offering inexpensive rates to small business owners.

Article source: Free Public Relations Articles.