When you’re a customer, how do you treat the people who work in and own the businesses you frequent? Let’s say you go into a local restaurant and they totally screw up your order. How do you handle it? Is your first reaction to yell, scream and get irate? Or are you patient, understanding and willing to give the business the opportunity to fix it?
What about the flip side? In your business, do you provide the type of excellent customer service that you expect to get from other businesses when you’re the customer?
Be honest.
I’ve seen people, who are entrepreneurs themselves, act a plum fool with other business owners over the smallest things. I’ve seen them be rude and condescending to the the employees of another establishment over things that could be fixed really easily.
Alternatively, I’ve seen entrepreneurs, who expect exceptional service everywhere they go, be short and unwilling to bend when their customers aren’t happy with their products or service.
It’s really hard to admit that you’re wrong when you find yourself being the customer from hell or the business owner from hell, but things like this matters. This type of behavior can come back to bite you in the ass as an entrepreneur.
I believe in the Golden Rule of Entrepreneurship. That is, you treat other business owners the way you would want to be treated as an owner and you go above and beyond for your customers the same way you would want an owner to do for you as a customer.
Be patient and kind with people. It really takes nothing to have a little patience and to show some kindness toward people who work in and own the businesses you frequent. That saying, ‘You get more bees with honey” is true. It’s usually a lot easier to get mistakes corrected when you show some understanding.
And of course, it’s super important that you learn how to deal with angry customers in a calm, pleasant way. Honestly, the nicer you are to them, the worst they feel about being angry with you, and the more likely you are to be able to keep them as a customer. When you make a mistake that affects your customers, go above and beyond to make it up to them.
I’m not saying you have to be a pushover as an owner or as a customer. There are times when you have to unleash the beast on that tazz and let people know what’s up, but you should be experiencing those highly escalated situations very infrequently. When you get all worked up and bent out of shape about stuff right from the start, you end up suffering more than you needed to.
If you’re willing to go into an establishment and flip tables over because they gave you water instead of Sprite, you can’t really be mad when that same energy shows up on the doorstep of your business.
So truly be mindful of how you treat other business owners when you’re the customer and be mindful of what kind of service you’re giving your customers. Do unto them as you would have them do unto you.
You may not find success trying to compete with giants like Wal-Mart on price, but you can certainly find success competing with those same giants by giving exceptional service that wows your customers and makes them choose you over those giants.