How do you get customers through the doors of your business, whether those doors are physical or virtual? Most companies rely on advertising to tell the public how wonderful their products, services—and customer service employees—are.

Don't Tell Them, Show Them

There are two problems with this method. The first is that companies are spending billions of dollars in hopes that their messages will entice customers to do business with them. In fact, during the third quarter 2009, U.S. organizations spent almost $5.5 billion on Internet advertising and almost $9 billion on TV advertising.

The second problem is something called “truth in advertising.” Many of those companies feature happy customer service employees in their ads and are quick to tell you that those customer service employees provide “service with a smile,” but you’d be hard pressed to find either service or smiles in any of their businesses. The general public is leery of most advertising and has adopted a “don’t tell me, show me” attitude.

That’s not to say that advertising won’t get a customer through your doors—once. The goal for any business is to increase revenues by increasing customer loyalty. You don’t have to be a genius to understand that it’s cheaper to keep a current customer than it is to attract a new one. And yet, too many businesses focus their time, energy, and money on paid advertising when there is something much more effective—and much less expensive: customer service.

When a company does what it says it will do, it earns both the respect and the loyalty of its customers. Those customers, in turn, tell others about the great service they received and serve as a “personal advertising team” for your business.

Let me give you an example: Robert purchased liquid sander and paint, but discovered that the paint would not adhere to the kitchen cabinets he was re-doing. He contacted the folks at The Home Depot, where he had purchased the products, and could not believe the response he received. The Home Depot apologized for the problem—and sent out a team customer service employees to complete the project for Robert. Now that was service above and beyond the call of duty. And Robert told anyone who would listen about it.

While providing that level of customer service certainly cost The Home Depot some money, it wasn’t nearly as expensive as running an ad on TV or in the local newspaper. And it’s almost impossible to put a price tag on credibility. The people who listened to Robert’s story believed him when he described the extraordinary service he had received. And you can bet that the next time they were planning a home-improvement project, they headed to The Home Depot for their supplies.

How would your company and your customer service employees stack up against The Home Depot? If neither comes close, there are some steps you can take to ensure that your customers are treated just as well as Robert was.

The first step is to hire people who genuinely enjoy helping people, whether that is identifying an insurance plan that meets a customer’s needs, ensuring that a printing project is completed accurately and on time, or correcting a banking error.

You also must train and empower your customer service employees. Present a new customer service training program every four to six months to keep enthusiasm high, and give customer service employees the authority to bend and break the rules in order to satisfy customers and keep them—and their money—coming back to you.

Praise customer service employees who provide exceptional customer service—and terminate those who don’t. One bad customer service employee can cost you much in lost customers and lost revenue, while 50 good ones can send your sales skyrocketing. 

Most important, however, is to walk to talk. Make customer service a priority. Make it a part of everything you do. Talk about it; write about it in your company publication.  Make sure every one of your customer service employees understands that it is your number one focus.

Exceptional customer service is a magnet that will draw customers to you. It will increase your revenues and ensure your success. And it won’t cost you millions of dollars.