"To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity." - Douglas Adams
The sincerity and integrity mentioned in the above quote often leads to trust. Trust turns a prospect into a customer. For home-based businesses the customer is the lifeblood of the economic fuel that runs your business.
You can have the hull of a business, but without the fuel of customer support you’re just a nice looking ship bobbing in the harbor. Without customers you aren’t going anywhere.
"People who concentrate on giving good service always get more personal satisfaction as well as better business." - Patricia Fripp
The development of a customer base is an important pre-business start-up plan. Do extensive market research before you launch a business. Once you’ve defined a viable business and are moving forward with a plan, begin to identify a customer base before you have a product or service to actually sell.
Mingle with business associates and friends to identify those who would be willing to do business with you once your home-based business is operational. I suppose you could wait until you actually launch, but by then you move from a proactive position to a reactive position. The first is offense and the second is defense – one places you in a leadership position and the other has you fighting to keep the doors of your business open.
"A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. He who can pronounce my name aright, he can call me, and is entitled to my love and service." - Henry David Thoreau
In the world of Internet ecommerce the proper use of a name is less important than the idea behind the above comment by Thoreau. The lesson it teaches is that we should always maintain the best in customer follow-up. This can be done with autoresponders and meaningful opt-in correspondence. Home-based businesses that do not plan for meaningful customer support and service are likely to see fewer return customers because there will always be the impression that there is a lack of ‘personal touch’.
”There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” - Roger Staubach
Define your business according to the ‘extra mile’ perspective, reach out to customers, thank them for dropping by and then make sure they feel welcomed back.
Can success be far behind?
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