Yosef Bleier: Keys to Great Customer Service Yosef Bleier is an experienced professional in the business community, and has long stressed the need to great customer service. He understands that while your product and/or service is important to you, and is the thing you’ve built you’re business on, your chances for success without a superlative customer service model or little to none. The customer service experience, as Yosef Bleier well knows, is the heart and soul of any business, regardless of what it’s selling or who it’s selling it to. If great customer service isn’t the center of your company’s mission, than perhaps it’s time to rethink your business model. Yosef Bleier shares some pointers below on what he believes to be the central tenets of customer service. Make Sure You Answer Your Phone. Yes, we all get busy, and sometimes a ringing phone seems more like an annoyance rather than a priority. The phone, however, is one of the most used ways to get ahold of a professional or company, says Yosef Bleier, and a lack of responsiveness leads to customer irritation and can harm customer loyalty. Make sure a live person, whether you, an employee or an answering service, always answers your company’s phone calls. Keep Your Promises. Building strong business-to-customer relationships, says Yosef Bleier, means following through on your commitments. Don’t just plan on doing something for a customer, he says, make it happen, and do it as soon as possible. Keeping your promises builds trust and earns respect from the customer, and help to create repeat business. Listen. Always make a sincere effort, says Yosef Bleier, to actually listen to your customers, and to take notes of who they are and what they need. People are savvy, and understand what the difference is between a sales pitch and an honest conversation. Make every attempt, says Yosef Bleier, to listen to what each customer’s needs and concerns are before trying to sell them a product. Address Complaints thoroughly. While it may be true that you can’t please everyone all the time, says Yosef Bleier, it’s also true that undealt with complaints can fester, becoming headaches that may end up affecting everything you do. In the age of information, where customer review forums are exploding in popularity, it’s important, says Yosef Bleier, to address each complaint thoroughly until resolution. Don’t allow a complaint to become an online disaster for your business. Employee Training. Be sure that all of your employees are well-trained, not only in your products or services, but in the appropriate ways to deal with every customer or complaint. Inadequate training, says Yosef Bleier, is easily detectable, and can kill a potential sale before it even has a chance.