For those of you that might not understand the concept of what good customer service means when it comes to online marketing, allow me to share what I know.
For many years, I’ve been involved in the Internet marketing business, and over that time, I have had customers and employees follow me every time I made a move. Many of these customers refused to deal with anyone else. Why? Because I took the time to build relationships.
Building relationships comes so easy to me that I didn’t even realize what I was doing until various seminars and conversations with a few friends spelled it all out for me.
The number one thing I did was to be genuine. Don’t try to be someone you’re not because chances are your customer will see right through it and be immediately wary of anything else that you have to say. Besides, it’s a whole lot easier to be yourself! 
Be engaged. Give your customer your full attention and show interest in what they’re saying. Take the time to dig down and find out what gives them pain. Make suggestions on ways to deal with that pain. This goes a long way toward building rapport.
Conduct business with integrity. Don’t “sell” your customer something they don’t need. It will only create resentment when they realize what’s happened. Instead let your product speak for itself by offering a quality product that solves the needs of your customers.
Be honest. Make sure that your product delivers what you say it will, and be prepared to discuss openly the things that it doesn’t or can’t deliver. If you don’t know the answer to something, don’t try and bluff your way through. Customers will understand and respect you a whole lot more if just admit you don’t know the answer, but you’ll find out and get back to them. Trust me when I say that no one expects you to have all the answers, and coming across like you do just gives your customer a reason to distrust you. You can’t give everything to everyone, and it doesn’t pay off to give that impression. If you don’t have what your customer wants or needs, and you know someone who does, point them in that direction. You customer will be impressed that you’re looking out for them and not for you. After all, this is what it’s all about!
Keep the promises you make. This requires that you be realistic in what you can do and the time it takes you to do it. If you tell someone that you’ll contact them with an answer at a certain time, make darn sure that you do! If, for some reason you haven’t been able to find the answer by the agreed upon time, contact them anyway to let them know why and when you expect that you will have the answer for them. They’ll understand, and will appreciate your call or email. The same thing applies with a promise of delivery. Make sure that you can deliver by the time you state, and if you can’t, make sure you contact your customer to let them know. I wouldn’t recommend making a habit of this, as it will affect your credibility on reliability.
Over-deliver. So often people try to get away with the very least that they can when it comes to providing a product or service. You want to stand out from the rest and by providing more than is expected, and more than is promised each and every time, you’ll soon become the “go to” person in your niche.
Follow up. This is a great way to build relationships, especially if you follow up within a set period of time after the delivery of your product. Your customer wants to feel like you care, and if you follow up with a call or an email to ask if they’re enjoying your product or if they have any questions or concerns, they will know that you care. Stay in touch with your client especially if things start to go sideways to ensure that the “fix” is working for them. This will mean different things for different products.
Relationship building is the foundation of excellent customer service that will keep your customers coming back for more and it will have them referring their family and friends to you and our products or services.
When you follow these simple customer service rules when marketing your business on the Internet, you will soon see your business attracting more customers each and every day.
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