As a small-business owner, I understand the importance of customer service and building strong relationships. My experience running a successful business has taught me that prioritising communication, customer service, and doing the seemingly small things right makes all the difference.
One of the most important aspects of great customer service is responsiveness. As an SME operator, it is crucial to be available and responsive to your clients, whether that means answering their questions, calls and emails promptly, or addressing issues and challenges honestly and timely. When clients feel like they’re being heard and their needs are being met, they are more likely to stick with your business and recommend you to others. Word of mouth is an invaluable tool in the digital landscape.
Exceptional customer service is about putting the client’s needs first. We believe that there are times when going above and beyond their expectations is critical to getting a great result for everyone, even if it takes extra time and effort. Personalised service and finding creative solutions to problems has ensured we have built a strong foundation of trust and loyalty in our relationships, and that has carried our small business through some tough times.
Our business, NX Decor, is a family-owned import business that does caravan fit-outs. It has been our relationships with our suppliers, logistics teams and customers that helped us through the pandemic, and even a major industry product malfunction pre-pandemic.
In 2019, an imported product was found to be faulty and caused chaos in the industry, resulting in massive insurance claims, product recalls, and disruptions to production lines. Such an event could of ruined a small business like ours, but by doubling down on those critical relationships and gaining family and staff buy-in to establish a dedicated warranty team, we were able to prioritise the time to liaise directly with those customers who were impacted, manage the fallout and handle the liability claims. We ended up losing a lot of money, but it could have been worse had it not been for our customer and staff loyalty, and putting our relationships and our clients first.
We grew our customer base after that, and I believe it was down to the way we pivoted and made the customers our priority over the business. The experience was tough, but it just confirmed for us that, even with limited resources, our customer service and great relationships are the backbone of our success and our business.
Our reputation is everything to us. We want the people we work with to trust us. You can’t have a successful business without it. We work with great people too, and that enabled us to diversify our logistics during the pandemic as well; we had options that we never would have had without prioritising our communications.
It seems so simple, but we believe that prioritising customer service, engaging in open communications, and building strong relationships is the key to success in small business. It can set you apart in a highly competitive market and fast-paced business environment. Find your people and nurture their loyalty, because when they feel valued and heard, they’ll keep returning to you and tell others about it.
