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For conscientious business owners, providing customers with top-quality customer service is a primary concern. Why? Because the success of a business is directly affected by the quality of service – good or bad - that the customers of that business receive.

A strong customer service strategy not only focuses on customer loyalty and retention, but also on the acquisition of new customers. With social media playing an ever-more important role in how businesses are perceived, companies must be more prudent than ever in their customer relations: an unhappy client may share the details of their negative experience across their network, resulting in bad publicity that could ultimately have a negative impact on sales.

Customers tend to have two types of expectations: ones that are created, and ones that are unspoken. What’s the difference between the two?

Created expectations result from promises or commitments made during a business owner’s first contact with a customer. As the business owner, you have a considerable amount of control over how these expectations are developed.

Unspoken expectations derive from the perception that customers have of your brand, your reputation, or what kind of service they expect to receive for their payment. These expectations are difficult to measure and manage, but represent an important aspect of your business that must be given the proper attention.

It’s important to understand that the emotions a customer feels about your company, whether positive or negative, are primarily driven by the quality of service that your business provides. In other words, it’s your responsibility to provide your customers with a positive experience.

“For example, consider an employee of a fast-food restaurant who is working at the take-out window. If he or she doesn’t pay attention while taking your order, there is a good chance that, upon arriving back home, you will realize that you received the wrong order, or that items are missing. You may feel that you’ve been deceived; and consciously or not, you will associate that feeling of deception with the restaurant in question. The same scenario applies to mechanical work or any other service-oriented transaction,” says Chantal Lamarre, Director General of Carrus.

Did you know that 96% of dissatisfied customers don’t file a complaint with the company they are unhappy with?

This means that businesses rarely know when a customer isn’t happy with the services they received. The consequence is that the customer will be unlikely to give your business a second chance to make things right – you’ll simply never see them again. Even worse, they will probably share the story of their negative experience with their friends and family.

• 14% of customers will stop frequenting your business due to a defective or low-quality product
• 68% of customers will stop frequenting your business due to poor service received from an employee.

These figures speak volumes. For a business to truly succeed, employees must be taught that the success of the business depends on the quality of customer service provided to clients.

“Ask these two questions to each one of your employees: One, what is a customer to you? Two, what do you consider to be good service? Depending on the answers you receive, you will be in a position to determine what kind of training and/or coaching is needed to effectively transmit your goals and vision to your customers, via your employees.”

To conclude: remember that your business can offer a great product or provide an impeccable service, but if you forget to provide quality customer service, your other efforts will ultimately be in vain.