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It was 5:15 p.m. and the after-work crowd was stopping by the dry cleaner to drop off items in need of cleaning. I arrived to pick up my order. There were clothes piled everywhere.

“Wow,” I said. “This is a really busy time of day for you guys.”

One employee looked at me and said, “Yeah. I wish all these people would stop coming in. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do and these customers keep bugging me.”

Oops. He had complained to the wrong person. Poor guy. Little did he know with whom he was dealing! For the next 10 minutes, I launched into a mini-workshop on building customer loyalty. When I was finished, he smiled sheepishly and said, “I guess I never looked at this job that way. But it’s tough to focus on the customers when there’s so much to do.”

He’s right. Everyone is getting busier. With downsizing and hiring freezes, there are simply not enough employees to handle the ever-growing workloads. That’s why it’s more important than ever to identify your priorities and stick to them.

5 Guidelines for Putting  Your Customers First!

1. Customers are absolutely the most important people in the company.
2. The most important job you have is to make your customers happy.
3. You are not doing your customers a favor when you provide service for them.
4. Your customers are not dependent upon you. They have many other choices.
5. Your customers will reward great service with business. Their business means you have a job!

Relationship before Task!

Never view a customer as an interruption of your work. Instead, prioritize your efforts by first completing tasks that build relationships with your customers.

Activities that build customer relationships.

• Greeting customers warmly.
• Listening to customers.
• Opening another cash register when there’s a line.
• Answering the phone in 3 rings or less.
• Placing customers on hold for less than 30 seconds.
• Returning customer phone calls promptly.3
• Shipping orders within the promised time frame.
• Responding to customer email messages courteously and quickly.
• Keeping customers updated about product or service changes.
• Quickly resolving customer complaints.

All other tasks, or, “stuff” that can be done after your customers’ needs have been met. 

Hot Tip: You can interrupt these tasks anytime a customer needs your attention!

• Filing
• Preparing invoices
• Conducting inventory
• Sorting mail
• Writing reports
• Making copies
• Reading email messages that don’t impact customers
• Sorting clothes at a dry cleaning establishment!