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People love customer service, it’s a fact, and better yet they love great customer service. It’s our duty as a professional and a business to ensure that our customers always get the best possible service we can give them and then some.

You only need to search on Google Trends for customer service to see a clear pattern showing that people are searching for it and that they are thinking about it.

Just think about the number of times you hear people bad mouthing a company because the sales rep was rude or the returns policy was a terrible experience.

Be like Zappos and encourage great appreciation of your customers within your company culture, train everyone up to deliver far beyond what people expect and then you will begin to build a brand that is recognisable for all of the great services that they offer.

Take these 7 steps on what not to do and chances are your customer will not hate you.

1 - Every conversation shouldn’t be a sales pitch, effective conversation is actually a pitch in itself.

The relationship you build, the knowledge you pass over, the thought process you kick start are all enough to be a subliminal sales pitch that doesn’t irritate the customer.

2 - Don’t talk about your company accomplishments and your personal history, no one cares. Find out more about the customer, again this is the vital relationship you need to start.

Think of a barbershop or hair dressers where conversation is always on going, after a few visits you become friends. Follow up calls and meetings are prime times to take a moment to learn something new about the customer.

3 - Getting greedy and trying to solve every problem is when things get annoying. If your product or service isn’t up to scratch to deliver the best possible solutions to that customer, don’t push it onto the customer that it will in fact solve their problems.

One bit of misguided advice and a broken product is enough to drive anyone away.

4 - The sales pitch should be last minute thought when building a relationship, almost a ‘Oh, there was something I needed to say….’ Get lost in the conversation, paying attention and taking note of everything said is a great trust builder.

5 - If you say you can do it, do it. If a product the customer needs on Friday won’t arrive until Saturday, go out and buy one from a local shop or drive around the world to get it.

The joy and long term relationship will far outweigh the money you have to dip into to solve the problem. Delivering on promises, you just have to do it.

6 - Customers don’t mind arrogance, only if you know you’re the best in your market the company is also the best in its market.

So when you are ‘pitching’ or building the relationship, know that you are the best in the field and that you will deliver no matter what.

7 - The opportunities to buy are far less stressful for the customer then the opportunities for you to sell. Being the therapist who picks out keywords in a sentence to then jump in with a pitch is just not right.

Customers will stop talking to you if they get the feeling this is your approach to customer service.

Generally speaking avoiding the cliché sales approaches that many people have become accustom to will probably give you a much better chance of building a great, long lasting customer relationship.

By: John Perrin