1.

Building Goodwill- Building goodwill with customers can directly increase the monetary value
of a company. When a propane business is acquired, the accountant often allocates at least 50
percent of the purchase price to “goodwill” and “customer relationships.” Creating goodwill can help
you to build relationships that ensure the long-term success of your business. Example ways to
creating goodwill to your customers are communicate, exceed expectation, ask for feedback,
connect, and show appreciation.

Advantages of Customer Building Goodwill

Sales: This is an obvious advantage of customer goodwill – repeat purchases and increases in sales. Existing
customers grow in product breadth and new users come on board.

Profits: Increased sales are equal to increases profits. Financial stability and increased profits are the aims of
every company and customer goodwill help to get that.

Market Share: Increased profits and sales, in turn, increase the market share of the company which helps in
maintaining a position of high repute in the market. High Market share keeps competitors away and
continues to gain trust from stakeholders and customers of the company.

New products: Once a company has customer goodwill, anything it launches will have a market. This goes
without saying that the product has to be good and should have a good support but customers become
more forgiving if there is goodwill.

Competitive edge: Customer goodwill helps the company to gain a competitive edge in the market and helps
it grow as a market leader. Regular customers developed due to goodwill will be brand loyal and it is difficult
to break brand loyalty.

Internal stakeholders: If a company has a customer goodwill in the market for its products, chances are that
the employees will be satisfied with their jobs and people will want to come to the company and older
employees won’t leave. Internal stakeholders, as such, are impacted positively owing to positive customer
goodwill. However, the opposite can happen in case of negative Goodwill.

 Building goodwill builds value, value for the customer and the business as a whole.
2. Handling complaints timely- Complaints happen every day. When a customer
complains, it is usually for a good reason or genuine concern. They usually have made a purchase that
did not meet their expectation—a product, service, or maybe a combination of the two. In the
customer service industry, we cannot avoid complaints. We must take care of the customer by
listening to the complaint, and resolving it, to ensure a happy customer. Fewer than half of unhappy
customers will bring a complaint to your attention. Those who never say anything will tell an average
of 11 other people about their bad experience. It is important that we recognize complaints as
opportunities, so we can sway these averages, one resolved complaint at a time. Customers want to
know someone is listening and they are understood, and they are hoping you are willing to take care
of the problem to their satisfaction. No matter what the situation is, when a customer brings a
complaint to your attention—even if they do it in a less-than-desirable way—be thankful. As the old
saying goes, “We can’t fix it, if we don’t know it’s broken.” Moreover, we must realize that improper
handling of a customer complaint can be costly to the business.

Example strategies to handle customer complaints

 Stay calm. When a customer presents you with a complaint, keep in mind that the issue is not
personal; he or she is not attacking you directly but rather the situation at hand. “Winning” the
confrontation accomplishes nothing. A person who remains in control of his or her emotions deals
from a position of strength.
 Listen well. Let the irate customer blow off steam. Respond with phrases such as, “Hmm,” “I see,”
and “Tell me more.” Do not interrupt.
 Acknowledge the problem. Let the customer know you hear what he or she is saying. If you or your
company made a mistake, admit it. If you did not make a mistake and it is a misunderstanding,
simply explain it to the customer: “I can see how that would be incredibly frustrating for you.”
 Get the facts. After listening, take the initiative in the conversation. Now that the customer has
calmed down and feels you have heard his or her side, begin asking questions.
 Offer a solution. This happens only after you have sufficient details. One thing to keep in mind:
Know what you can and cannot do within your company’s guidelines. Making a promise you cannot
commit to will only set you back.

There could be a variety of reasons for customer complaints, but the most common one is that
they’re dissatisfied in some way with your product or service. Not all customers will take the time
to call and tell you about their disappointment, but the ones that do are usually passionate about
what they’re calling to tell you or are loyal to your brand. There may be a way to remedy the issue
the customer calls about, but sometimes there’s nothing you can do. Either way, the feedback can
be useful to you in a variety of ways.

 When you resolve customer complaints successfully, you will better understand their needs, retain
them as loyal customers, and enhance your business.
3. Processing requests for rush deliveries willingly- We’ve all had those customers; you
know the ones. The ones who come at you fists raised, steam blowing from their ears, and ready to
fight you tooth and nail on everything they think is wrong with your company or product. Whether
you’re handling customer requests, complaints, or general inquiries, customer support can be stressful
to say the least. Managing customer support comes with a certain level of inherent chaos that can leave
you and your team feeling overwhelmed and ill-prepared if you don’t have plan set up in advance (and I
strongly suggest that one gets put in place if you haven’t already done so).

Example ways to handle customer request

Categorize incoming requests, Have a place to put all of those requests, actually respond, Fix the problem, take the
suggestion, answer the question, and Have a drink. Take a breather.

4. Assure the customer that the salesperson will do everything possible to make that request happen

Creating strong relationships in business is vital to keeping projects alive, and it can sometimes
be tough. But growing a network can also be as easy as a gesture of goodwill. I personally
believe that giving gifts and offering gestures of goodwill is essential to success.
Relationship enhancers:

Focusing on long term, delivering more than promised, calling regularly, adding value, keeping
communication lines open, and taking responsibility for problems

Relationship detractors:

Focusing on short term, overpromising/underdelivering, calling sporadically, only showing up for

another order, being unavailable to the customer, and not taking responsibility for problems that arise