Exceptional Customer Service: Growing Your Business | Fortress ...
Every business claims to provide exceptional service to every customer, every time. But what does this mean? Is there a difference between simple good manners and customer service that grows your business? It's certainly important to smile and be ethical, but your business depends on expanding these basic concepts and applying them in nuanced ways. Exceptional customer service anticipates what owners and residents want so they don?t simply leave your office with a good feeling?they leave with the incentive to come back. Here are some customer service best practices that every property manager can apply:
1. Listen to what your customers say. All customers aren?t the same. Listen, ask a few thoughtful questions and customize your response. Not only will you learn something new, your customers will feel more connected and loyal to you.
2. Make personal connections. This can be hard when you have a lot of customers, but you can do it. It doesn?t take much. Send handwritten thank you notes. Acknowledge birthdays, weddings, or graduations. Remember names and faces.
3. Be uncommonly responsive. Everyone responds to queries, but not everyone does it within hours. Even if it?s just an acknowledgement that you got the message and will call back shortly, your clients will greatly appreciate the response.
4. Set expectations and follow through. Keep your word. Deliver owner statements on the day you promised. Tell owners how you?ll market their properties, then provide examples. When you schedule a contractor for a tenant?s unit, make sure they get there. If they don?t, explain why.
5. Place customers at the center of your business. There?s only one way to do this: ask your customers! Check in with a few of them once a month and ask what you should be doing to keep them. Then find a way to do it. This way you don?t just react to them; you build your business around them.
Remember, service isn?t a compliment to selling. Service sells. Saying ?please? and ?thank you? is necessary, but not enough: find ways to stand out from the crowd every day.
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