Marketing is essential to the success of any business. Yes, there are some businesses that do well with little or no advertising. But there is more to marketing than advertising. Much more.

The Random House Dictionary defines marketing as "the commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer." That covers a lot of ground. It starts with the production of the product, and ends with the purchase of the product. Or does it?

If you don’t like that definition, consider the four P’s of marketing: product, place, price and promotion. You may have heard those in business school, and they are, no doubt, important. You must have a good product. You must place it where your target market will see it. You must price it properly. And, of course, you must promote it.

These two concepts provide a pretty good picture of marketing. But there’s something missing. Something important. And that ‘something’ is customer service.

"Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game."
Tony Alessandra

Every successful business owner knows that providing good customer service is important. But have you taken the time to think about why this is true? There are many reasons:

• Happy customers tend to be repeat customers. If they had a good experience once, they will remember it the next time they need something that you can provide.

• Happy customers can refer their friends and family to you. Your best advertising efforts just can’t beat a personal testimonial from a satisfied customer.

• Happy customers might give your products or services as gifts. This puts them in the hands of a new customer, and if you make a good impression, he could become a repeat customer.

• Happy customers can spread the word far and wide. In the Internet age, anyone can broadcast his opinions through blogs, websites and email. Those who have a favorable opinion of your company may take it upon themselves to provide free advertising for you.

• Unhappy customers won’t come back, won’t refer you to friends and family, and won’t give your products or services as gifts. But they may very well spread the word far and wide. In fact, unhappy customers are more likely to broadcast their dissatisfaction than happy customers are to share their satisfaction.

Customer service can easily cause your business to sink or swim. So why isn’t it even mentioned in many definitions of marketing?

Maybe it’s because it’s such a loaded subject. Customer service is one of those things that permeates every aspect of a business. From the design of the product, to the way it’s promoted, to the method of delivery to the customer, and beyond. In fact, many of the most important aspects of customer service happen after the sale is made. These include responses to questions about the product, handling of complaints, and follow-up efforts.

Or maybe it’s because customer service isn’t an exact science. There are certain things about it that are universal, but what works for one business won’t necessarily work for another. Small, localized service-based businesses, for instance, might be able to follow up with each customer by phone and ask personalized questions about their experience after each purchase. For larger, product-based businesses, such an approach might be impractical.

Whatever the reason may be, it’s imperative to keep customer service at the forefront of your marketing efforts. It’s much easier and more cost-effective to keep an existing customer than it is to gain a new one.

Going the Extra Mile

"Here is a simple but powerful rule – always give people more than what they expect to get."
Nelson Boswell

Customer service is, obviously, about treating your customers well. It’s about making sure they had the best possible buying experience, and that they are satisfied with what they bought. Your competitors know this, and if they’re doing well, they put it into practice.

If everything else is equal, customers will give their business to the company with the best customer service. So how do you compete with another company that values its customers? You go above and beyond the call of duty.

Even if you have little or no competition in your niche, or your competition has a lousy reputation, it pays to give your customers more than they expect. If you do, they will be more likely to spread the word about their experiences and less likely to stray. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

• Offer spectacular support. Provide multiple options for contacting your customer service department, such as 24-hour phone support, online chat and email.

• Offer incentives to loyal customers. For example, start a program that gives them gift certificates or discounts after they’ve purchased a certain dollar amount in products.

• Give free gifts with purchases. They don’t have to be expensive to make an impression.

• Make a money-back guarantee. New customers are more likely to try your product if they feel that they have nothing to lose.

• Have a customer appreciation day. Invite customers and prospective customers to your office or storefront, and provide refreshments, activities and prizes. If you do business online only, you could do prize drawings or offer free samples.

It’s great to try to see things from your customers’ point of view, to think about what you would want, need, and expect if you were one of them. If you can provide that, your customers will be satisfied. But if you can provide more than that, they will be delighted.

Any business that completely ignores customer service will go under quickly. Those that do enough for their customers to get by will do just that – get by. But if you can consistently exceed your customers’ expectations, you will go far. Doing so will require extra work, and it might require some added expense. But your efforts will be rewarded handsomely.

Jeremy Gislason, owner of SureFireWealth Inc. and publisher of the self-improvement series at MindmaptoRiches.com, certainly has the right mindset to be teaching others. A great self-help resource, the Mindmap to Riches series can change the course of one’s life.

Reprinted from ArticleCity.com

How to Deal With Difficult Customers . . .
Without Getting Fired

by Madisen Harper

One of my team members had just handed me a note asking me to return a call to a man who wanted to speak to "someone in charge." I wondered if my recent hissy-fit at a restaurant was coming back as karma as I sensed I was going to have to brush up on my ‘how to deal with difficult customer’ skills before I picked up the phone.

When I called the customer he asked me if I had read the email. Of course, I had to clarify which of the thousands of emails sent to and from our company each day he was referring to, and he identified a recent piece of marketing correspondence.

Once I had it front of me, he demanded, "Well, can you see a problem with it?" When I said "no," he huffed and referred me to a sentence that had the words "employee’s time." He confidently advised me that there shouldn’t be an apostrophe.

Initially I was dumbstruck that somebody would waste their time calling us about an apostrophe, but once I regained my ability to speak I politely advised him that I believed the wording was correct. It was the time belonging to the employee and therefore the apostrophe indicated a possessive noun.

Twenty minutes later there was no reasoning, no other issues, and no winning. He accused me of not being able to see the error as it was an "Americanization of grammar." I didn’t realize America had its own apostrophe system. When I told him I wasn’t from the US, he accused, "You’ve got an American accent!"

The conversation continued its decline and he asked that the situation be escalated to the CEO, as he, incorrectly, believed that an apostrophe was not supposed to be in the email.

Temporarily falling into little girl mode I thought, ‘I’m going to get into trouble,’ which I thankfully realized was ridiculous.

I hung up feeling extremely frustrated. It was like being bound and gagged, as I believed I wasn’t able to express myself because I was representing a company that I was consulting for and didn’t own. What I really wanted to say was, "I’m going to end this conversation as we’re not getting anywhere. I’m sorry if you believe the grammar is incorrect, but it’s not, so let’s agree to disagree and not waste any more of each other’s time. Goodbye."

Rarely Having to Say You’re Sorry

This guy was nothing compared to previous customer conversations I experienced when owning a plus-size fashion business with my best friend, Ivana. We held fashion parades throughout the city and one day I received a phone call from a woman complaining about one of our models. "I can’t believe you let a size-26 woman on the catwalk. I was embarrassed for her as she strutted her stuff, looking so confident. She had rolls of fat, it was disgusting, I’m her size and I would never prance around like that looking so happy."

How do you respond to that? She was obviously displacing her insecurities onto our confident model, and Ivana handled it perfectly: "I’m sorry you feel that way, but we’re often commended for using beautiful women who represent all body sizes."

It was in overhearing Ivana’s response that I learned "sorry" wasn’t an apology, but a statement of understanding the complainer’s feelings.

Fortunately, Ivana had extensive experience in customer service ranging from: clients who loved her work as a Web designer until they received the bill; to her stint as a customer service representative at a health care company where she took a call from a lady complaining how painful it was to remove her sanitary pad – the cause? Let’s just say she wasn’t facing the adhesive side toward her underpants; or how about the diabetic who complained that a sugar substitute she used to bake a cake caused her blood-sugar levels to skyrocket. When they asked how many slices she ate, she admitted to eating the entire cake. She obviously forgot about the carbohydrate component.

Is the Customer Always Right?

As I gladly escalated the apostrophe issue to the CEO’s secretary it got me thinking, is it OK to accept unreasonable behavior from a customer because you don’t want to jeopardize the reputation of the firm you work for?

If customers have legitimate complaints they have a right to be assertive, but not aggressive or rude. I felt trapped because I wasn’t clear on the company’s policy for handling these situations, so in reality, I probably tolerated a lot more than was necessary.

Does your company have a policy that outlines when it’s OK to say, "Enough is enough" and you know your actions will be supported? What about those in front-line positions, who may frequently deal with unreasonable people? You’ve got to ask, "How does this affect me psychologically and how can I avoid getting fired when protecting myself against clients whom I really want to tell to take a hike?"

Maltreatment should not be tolerated by organizations, so if there is no complaints-handling policy, ask for one to be created that is fair to both the customer and employee. Remember, we may be workers, but we’re not whipping boys (or girls)!

Madisen Harper aims to banish the world of bad bosses, crappy co-workers, manipulative managers and uninspired employees. She actively helps people move from loathing, to liking and (maybe) even loving their jobs by changing their attitude, behavior and/or environment. If you’d like to receive 100s of practical tips to improve your job satisfaction, subscribe to Madisen’s VIDEO newsletter at MadisenHarper.com.

Reprinted from ArticleCity.com