This New Year Resolution Could Double Your Income In 2017

Last Xmas, I paid for a service, and rather than deliver what I paid for, the businessman I commissioned took the money, did a shoddy job and disappeared. After he finally showed up after the new year, rather than be apologetic and try to see things from my point of view, he tried to defend the shoddy job he did and his negligent absence from correcting that job and was a bit rude.

He later corrected the fault, but needless to say, because of his rude manners, he’d already lost a reliable customer-not a very good business achievement in these economically lean times. If he had remembered his Customer Relations 101, he would still have retained the possibility of future lucrative business from us. Even if your customer is wrong, try to count to 10 before you reply him, that can calm things down a lot.

These days, it is commonplace to see business owners being rude to customers even when they terribly need their money. They chase their customers away with their uncouth attitude and wonder why their business is not being patronised.

Understand this: it isn’t only broadcasters that need to smile, no matter how they feel. You, a business owner, also needs to do that, because so many customers want to be treated like kings, and if you treat them like kings, they will come back again and again to your shop, and you know what that means in Naira and kobo.

You may own your business, but as far as making money from it is concerned, the customer is king and should be treated as such. If you treat them like kings and queens (within reason), they will reward you with the money ypu need to live like a king, or if you are a lady, a queen.

Nigerian business is a jungle, and it is the survival of the fittest. In this case we might say, ‘survival of the most polite’. So, no matter how out of kilter you may be feeling, try to treat your customer as a king.

Little efforts like listening to your customer’s concerns (within reason), really making an effort to alleviate your custoner’s distress, timeliness in addressing their concerns can win your business lifelong patronage.

Make it one of your New Year Resolutions to leave the customers of ypur company more satisfied than they were last year. That little effort may fetch you some surprising amount of money/promotion one of these days. (When that happens, don’t forget where you got this from.)