Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Value of Customer Service

In my opinion, businesses with amazing or exceptional customer service are not always easy to find. While there are some fantastic companies (large & small) out there, many think that doing business is just about the "transaction" rather than the "interaction," which I completely disagree with. As a full-time business owner, I constantly pay attention to how places treat their customers, and sometimes wonder how people stay in business. On a positive note, I've also been blown away withe the amazing service I've received at other places, and will continue to give them 100% of my business (and tell everyone I know about them).

I think my bank (which I'm not going to name right now) is a perfect example of a place giving poor service. Despite the fact that I hold 4 accounts with them and am there 2-3 times per week, I'm lucky to get any sort of a hello when I walk in the door, and often have to initiate the conversation myself to break the silence & dead air (which I hate by the way). I'm not asking for people to jump through hoops of fire when I walk in the door, but wouldn't it be nice to at least give a basic "hello" and greet a person that is choosing to do business with you? If I opted not to open my mouth, I'm pretty sure I could walk in and make a deposit without a single word being spoken to me (I actually may try this tomorrow and report back to you, haha).

While it may not be possible to 100% please every single person you come into contact or do business with, I do feel that the service we try to provide for our clients is equal if not better to the photography work that we do. I get more calls from future clients telling us they heard about what great service we provide, than calls from people that want to do business only because of the work we do. I've heard so many stories from folks we've met with complaining about other photographers that either have no personality whatsoever, or were extremely rude and treated them poorly. I'm probably sharing more than I should for the local photographers that read this blog, but I think the #1 reason people fail in business is not because they aren't good at what they do, but because they don't know how to run a business and provide the best service possible for their customers - I suppose this is not that big of a secret, right?

You're probably asking yourself where I'm going with all this (I'm beginning to ask myself, actually). Aside from already doing all we can to provide the best photography service in the Capital Region, we are also doing some extra things this year such as signing up for a Linkedin account, which will allow others to recommend our services and/or leave feedback. This morning, we also received our offical accreditation into the Better Business Bureau (not just given out to anyone these days, and expensive to be a part of), which I'm pretty excited about. Once the paperwork is finalized, we'll be displaying their official seal on our website, which is just one more symbol of our dedication to providing ethical & exceptional service.

Aside from our testimonial page on the website, you can access our new Linkedin account to link yourself and/or recommend us if interested. We should have our BBB listing up sometime next week, so save your complaints until then - haha! :)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattramosphotography

No comments: