1) Provide customer service that distinguishes your business from your competitors.
The best product in the world is just going to stay on the shelves and get dusty if you don’t support it with customer service that makes your product "better" than the identical product offered by the competition.
The success of Sleep Country Canada also illustrates the power of word‐of‐mouth. Good customer service not only makes your customer want to come back and do more business with your company; it also encourages your customer to recommend your business to his or her friends. The second customer service tip we can draw from Sleep Country Canada's example is:
2) Solicit and use testimonials from your satisfied customers.
Authentic testimonials from actual satisfied customers can be very powerful sales tools. But most customers, no matter how satisfied, won't think to volunteer their endorsement. So ask them ‐ and then use their testimonials to encourage others to try your products or services. The third customer service tip that Sleep Country Canada's customer service practices provides is a very simple one, but it's at the core of delivering good customer service:
3) Deliver on your customer service promises.
In the Sleep Country Canada example, it's delivering a mattress on time. For your business, it might be showing up to do an estimate when you said you would, or dealing with a complaint expeditiously. Customer service that falls through on the follow through is no customer service at all. Sears Canada is another top retailer that small businesses concerned about customer service might emulate.