I talk about coffee shops a lot. There are two reasons - the first is that I spend a lot of time scribbling notes furiously in coffee shops and the second is that they often produce the best customer service anecdotes that can be applied to virtually every other kind of business.

I visited a coffee shop recently that just couldn’t seem to get it right. The shop itself was fabulous, the location was great and even the coffee was good but when you talk customer service, they had absolutely no idea. To order you coffee you had to stand in a line that moved at a snails pace. The staff working the till had to punch so many buttons that I thought they must have been writing a novel. Then after they have taken your order you have to wait by the counter with the rest of the crowd, for your coffee. The saddest part is that there is no way to know whose order is whose. They will put a cappuccino on the counter and yell out - “one cappuccino”. Of course, everyone there ordered one cappuccino so who owns this one?

The whole process is a mess. People are arguing, the staff have no idea whose order is whose and the owner sits at a table and watches to whole dilemma  unfold, all day, every day. Who is ever going to go back to the counter and order a second coffee in the midst of this mess? How simple would it be to give people a number? I still don’t understand the reasoning behind this coffee shop’s service philosophy but it is a great way to learn what not to do.

This business made it really hard to make a purchase. Many businesses follow the inadvertent process of putting as many obstacles in front of their customers as they can to eliminate them from buying products. Sometimes it is a cluttered counter, sometimes it is making it a prerequisite that you purchase a minimum amount of a product (a ten year supply). Perhaps you have to sit on the end of telephone for half an hour for the privilege of handing over your money or is it simply too complicated for a customer to simply get served.

Whatever the reason, a key to customer service is to remove all obstacles that make it harder for your customers to make a purchase with your business.  Every step of the buying process should be as smooth as silk and this is the way to start the overall process of improvement - break your entire customer interaction into pieces and look for ways to speed up, fix, change, make better and seriously improve each piece. 

The results of doing this are amazing. I have no doubt that coffee shop I mentioned could have easily increased its turnover by 30-40% simply be introducing better systems and doing what was easier for the customers not what was easier for the business owner. 

In this modern world there are no shortages when it comes to choice. We will persevere for a couple of times with a business, perhaps, but then we will quietly slip away never to return. 

Customer service is an issue that many businesses really struggle to get a handle on. For some people it is simply serving customers quickly and politely, but in reality it goes much deeper.

In other posts I have talked about the importance of respecting your customers, which I believe is the starting point when it comes to delivering high levels of customer service.

Whilst you may respect your customers, the relevance of this is often hard to pass on to your staff. They will mirror you attitude towards customer service. That is why you have to make your views very clear and in my opinion, black and white. 

Most businesses will talk endlessly about sales to staff: is the business reaching its targets, how can sales be improved, how can more customers be attracted and how can they be encouraged to spend more with the business? The topic of customer service is often overlooked, generally because I feel that business owners aren’t really sure how to address more than a few very obvious customer service issues.

Customer service should be talked about a lot. It should be debated, it should be reviewed and it should be discussed at every opportunity. This can get a little boring and start to sound like a broken record so it is up to the person doing the talking to be a little innovative.

Buy a book on customer service with lots of great ideas on how to stand out from the crowd by offering exceptional customer service. Without meaning to turn this into a sales pitch, my third book called 101 Ways to really satisfy your customers is a pretty good starting point. It actually contains 121 very simple and practical ways to improve any business’ level of customer service. There are many other books available and most contain excellent tips.

Encourage your staff to make suggestions on how they feel your business’ customer service could be improved. Ask your customers for their feedback and recommendations. Talk about these recommendations with your staff and see if they can be implemented. By getting your staff and customers involved the concept of customer service becomes much more tangible.

In short, devote as much time to improving customer service as you do to improving sales and your business will grow naturally as it gains a reputation for offering excellent service. 

In businesses that are overly busy this point poses a challenge. In businesses not so busy, it is unforgivable. Over promising and under delivering is the best way to lose customers as it breaks every customer service rule. Firstly you are building up the customer’s expectations, probably higher than they were initially, then you not only fail to meet their expectations, you fail miserably.

It is easy to get pressured into over promising and under delivering. In my industry, everyone wants marketing advice and strategies quickly, but the reality is they take time to prepare. A rushed strategy can be flawed and the end result disastrous for the business concerned. I specifically explain this to my clients at length and I have to be careful to make sure the timeframe I quote to deliver their strategy is realistic and achievable. Once committed, I will move heaven and earth to make sure the very best quality product is delivered on time.

It is better to set a realistic timeframe, one you can achieve, than one you can’t possibly achieve, which is guaranteed to end in tears for all the parties concerned.

There are of course many other forms of over promising and under delivering. One of the most obvious is food. We have all seen sensational television advertisements promoting mouth-watering meals, filling us with expectation, only to find the end product is a shrivelled, poor impersonation of what was on the commercial. Likewise, the advertisement may spout on about how your business is valued and how staff will treat you like celebrities, but when you pick up the phone the person on the other end treats you like anything but royalty. Some of this problem is due to the distance between the marketing people and the end product. But as a marketing person I have never had a brief that said to make sure you show our burgers looking soggy and unappetising. The key here is to be honest in your representation of your product or service.

Over promise and under deliver—don’t underestimate your customers intelligence. They know when they are being treated with contempt and they will soon let you know.

One of the great advantages that small businesses have over their large corporate cousins, is the ability to form relationships with their customers. In a big firm, people come and people go, accounts are passed around the business, when customers call they rarely speak to the same person twice. Small businesses have a much greater degree of consistency that customers like. It is nice to be able to call the local butcher to place an order and he knows you, he asks about the family and your plans for the weekend.

As small business owners and operators we should all cultivate the building and developing of these relationships. Take a few minutes to get to know your customers and always use the personal touch for little ways that you can make a visit to your business memorable.

Sometimes it can something as simple as walking through the business talking to your customers, perhaps giving out a few treats or offering advice. I like to make my clients tea or coffee when they come in for an appointment. I often have to fight with my receptionist because she feels that she should do this task, but I enjoy making my clients a drink and I know that they appreciate it. It is a very small thing, but it is personal touch.

The personal touch can extend to small notes of thanks if a client or customer has some good fortune or a reason to celebrate. If in the course of a general conversation you find out that it is their birthday shout them a product of some sort on the spot. Be spontaneous and show the customer that you value their business and you value them as a person.

Some people struggle with spontaneity, but if you work at it, you will be surprised at how good it feels and how appreciated small personal gestures are. I also believe that it is important to encourage your staff to be spontaneous.