Heaps of Honey,
Leave Out the Vinegar
By Emma Richter
Being nice really does go a long way and customer service is no exception. Businesses all start from nothing, but should strive to offer service with a smile.
The world alone is full of unkind things and people, right? Why bring that same energy into your workplace? Even virtually, customers can feel apathy and certainly contempt.
Want to attract customers who will happily refer your company to friends and family? Sprinkle a heavy dose of kindness and watch your client relationships “rise” from tire kickers to long-term customers.
Consider motivational speaker and prolific author Zig Ziglar. He was, and posthumously is, a true proponent of kindness in the business world. Ziglar, ever the optimist, traveled the world for four decades, spending time professing his recipe for success.
Though Ziglar went around the world sharing his “special sauce,” there was always one aspect of his demeanor and lectures that never changed. Ziglar was all about kindness, which is something he brought into his daily motivational speaking career.
Striving to be the next Zig Ziglar is a daunting task, but there is no harm in putting effort into being a kinder person—especially when running a business.
Face it: Do you enjoy doing business with and paying your hard earned money to mean, nasty people? Of course not. And, nowadays, people have a seemingly never-ending number of choices when it comes to plunking down money.
Actually, customers call them choices; you call them competitors.
Businesses flourish or die off based on the quality of personal relations and customer service. So, it is important that kindness is what drives every conversation, every transaction and every interaction with people who do business with your company.
Focus your team on building the kind of relationships that keep customers coming back for more. Why? Because going out of your way to help someone pays off when it comes to your bottom line.
Though not coined by Ziglar himself, his belief in this cliche was definitely part of his message: “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
In other words, get creative and stand out from your competition. But do it with kindness.
Some ideas to sweeten the pot: hold sales and offer discounts, use customer loyalty programs or attract interest with fun social media contests. The list of ways to impress customers and make them feel the love is virtually endless.
So save the vinegar for salad dressing and pour on the honey with friendly customer service. You’ll have new customers eating out of your hands.
At Harmonia Media, a boutique, client-centric digital marketing company, we believe every good relationship begins at the beginning. We can help you drive traffic to your website with great SEO and compel people to buy with high-quality content.
Contact Harmonia Media for a free consultation – but only if you want more customers. That’s our house special of the day – every day.
