Creating a company. Customer service

Working with clients is by far the most important item on the list of ways to create a successful growing company. To create a quality product today is not difficult, but few can secure success. And this is connected, first of all, with the firm but erroneous certainty that the production of good goods (work, services) will a priori pay back any investments. But in reality (especially for a new company), competent work with clients will allow for success.

Before reading the article, I would like to acquaint you with a brief note about the author. At the moment, I am not the owner of my business, but for 9 years I have been familiar with trade, and even had a bad experience in setting up my small business. All published articles at this point in time are a theory that at any time can become part of a business plan, and, publishing here, I do not aim to give advice to an inexperienced businessman, but to provide for a general review the stages of creating a new enterprise. I am of the opinion that the structure of many different types of firms is very similar, so the theses that I mentioned in my previous articles can be universal and suitable for all start-up firms whose goal is to become successful and exist in the market for a long time.

Therefore, I will be glad to hear constructive criticism, where my judgments are critical and can jeopardize the development and existence of the company.

So. Customer service

1. It is necessary to keep records of all interactions with the client and have the most informative database of clients. All calls must be recorded, for the b2b market, all customer information must be collected (as correct as possible for the customer). Naturally, an organizational requirement arises - customer managers should always have access to the interaction base, and most importantly, be motivated to work with these interactions: create new ones, edit existing ones, process current ones, and so on.
2. Customer information about pricing should be open and easily accessible. It is difficult to find objective reasons for the fact that sometimes it is very difficult to find out the value of a particular product, work or service. Perhaps this is one of the means of competition. The second version - prices are constantly changing and depend on different parameters. But these reasons are easily refuted. First, competitors should always be, and they should not be afraid, because there are no completely identical companies that provide absolutely identical services in terms of cost, quality, service, warranty and other parameters: something will always be different. This “something” is your competitive advantage. At the same time, the price as a competitive advantage is rarely at the top of the list of criteria for choosing a company. Secondly, the constantly changing price is a sign of an unstable company. The only parameter that can really and objectively influence the constant change in prices is the exchange rate of foreign currencies, and this is only when purchasing imported equipment or raw materials. But in this case it is better to set a fixed price in arbitrary units. If the customer is stopped only by the price, then this is only the objection of the customer, which is an element of the sales technology - there will be a separate article about it.
3. A comprehensive solution to the problem (issue, task) of the client. If the client made a non-standard request, the answer “We do not know” is a reference to the non-commercial society of the past, when questions were resolved “Take what is”. You can’t say: “We don’t have it,” even if we don’t produce it. It is necessary to find in the shortest possible time what the client wants and give it to him. It is necessary to solve all arising questions of the client. At the same time, it is necessary not to overreact and be able to stop on time in attempts to please the client, who can simply
4. Systematize all solutions and exits from different situations, shape your sales technology. Write documented reasonable answers to your client. This will appeal to you and your customers. Therefore, to understand what CRM should be and what IT tools should be used, it’s best to go ashore.