Owning and running and small business is hectic during average years, but this year is an exceptionally complex one. There are added stresses at home, at work, and with employees. It’s a great deal of strain for any employer. You want your small business to be able to overcome all of the big issues, some of which you cannot control. There are, however, small issues you can influence, and by doing so, you can make sure to gain lasting customer satisfaction.

Poor Customer Service

Many companies, fearing losing customers to other businesses, work overly hard to provide extras to customers. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, because you want to be able to provide good customer service. You needn’t, however, offer delighted or overly jolly service, nor perks in order to retain customers. A study at Harvard found that most customers responded best to merely removing obstacles and problems. You don’t need to tap-dance and throw confetti. Your customers merely need to know you are working hard to help them make the purchases they want. Your genuine sincerity and assistance will provide the customer service needed to retain loyal service.

Missing Inventory

One of the most frustrating customer service problems faced by small businesses is not having sufficient inventory for the demand of their customers. Inventory issues can be so bad that 39% of consumers leave stories empty-handed because an item was out-of-stock. Of course your goal is that nobody leaves empty-handed! You want to be able to have sufficient and anticipate needs. This can be complex, because you don’t want to tie up too much of your capital into trends which might pass, but at the same time must have extra for when demand increases.

Not Being Able to Admit A Problem

Often employees feel embarrassed for not knowing things or being able to solve issues themselves. This problem is a simple one to solve, but requires a great deal of patience. Your employees must not only be trained, but must know that they will not be penalized for needing answers to questions. This policy will cause learning to be passed from employee to employee. Individual employees will not feel penalized as they are learning where to find solutions or policy questions. This passes onward to customers being able to have confident answers given to them. The entire chain from managerial staff to customers is empowered. This leads not only to happier, loyal employees, but happier, loyal customers as well.

Small business is more challenging now than ever, and there are still many questions you cannot have the answers to in the midst of a pandemic. However, with the things above, you will be able to best weather the storm.

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