Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Taking Care of Customers

Consider the process of starting your business. You think about your future customers, right? You anticipate who will buy your product. You research their needs and painstakingly detail how to meet those needs in your business plan. You develop a marketing plan that explains how to reach your customers, and you calculate, dollar for dollar, how their spending translates into profit for you. Something is missing, though: Where in all that research and planning is your pledge to your customers — your vow of how you will treat them? Most business plans don't include this type of pledge, unless one of your company's competitive advantages is defined as an unprecedented level of customer service.

I pledge to you

What is a customer pledge, and how do you develop one? A pledge to your customers is a written guideline of what they can expect when doing business with you. The pledge should be the basis of your overall customer service philosophy. Start your customer service pledge internally, and make it something used only by you. From there, you can create an external (public) customer service pledge.

Put it in writing

How do you create a customer pledge? Here are a few simple steps you can follow to get going:

1. Answer a few general questions about how you really feel about customers (be honest!):
   • How do you view your customers? Do you know them personally or speak with them on the phone, or are they completely anonymous?
   • How important are customers to you and ...