Of course your customers are not idiots. But it’s amazing how many business owners allow themselves and their employees to treat their customers as if they were.

My very first job at age 14 was as a cashier at the fast food restaurant Hardees. The break room discussions between employees (the majority of which were aged 15-18) were almost entirely centered on making fun of customers and insulting them relentlessly. I must say, this is one of the things that I’m least proud of – especially after talking with someone like Ben Casnocha who at age 14 was on his way to becoming one of the youngest Silicon Valley CEO’s ever.

As I matured and evolved in my professional life, I quickly learned that this habit of ridiculing customers was not only good for myself or for the business, but also a very negative way to live life. By the time I started my own business 15 years later, I had adopted a philosophy on customers and customer service that was a complete mirror image to that of the dingy Hardees employee break room.

A healthy attitude toward customers and the people I work with had become my top priority. I learned that my customers were much smarter than I was and deserved an immense amount of respect.

I might know quite a bit about writing homepages that are search engine friendly and ways to make visitors take action on websites, but my customers know more about their target audience, their vision, and what works and doesn’t work in their business than I do.

Quite possibly the worst client care freelancer ever…

There is one freelancer web developer that I know that is perhaps the worst person I have ever met when it comes to respecting his clients. I have heard him on the phone telling his customers that they were “high maintenance” and that “they should not act like they were the only client he had to deal with.”

Offline, he regularly talks about what idiots people are and about how smart he is. He punishes his clients by not returning their calls and emails immediately. He doesn’t understand why people just won’t take the advice he offers when it comes to web design and development. Needless to say, this person has lost every single client and is now being sued for $15,000 for payment made on an unfinished project.

If you haven’t adopted a philosophy on how to treat your customers, it can be easy to slip into this kind of negativity that is so destructive for growing a healthy and profitable business.

Here are a few things that I do now to ensure that my clients receive the respect they deserve:

Ask questions: Business coach Brian Tracy says that you have no business offering any advice or solutions until you fully understand the customer’s issue. When you first meet with a potential client, you should be asking more questions and doing less monologuing.

Take feedback critically: Learning how to accept feedback is a learned skill. When customers offer feedback, no matter what form it is in, realize this is a chance to learn and improve your work – not a personal attack. If your client is the one paying, then they should get what they want. There are times when as an experienced professional that you may think something would be more effective if approached a different way than the customer expects. As an experienced professional, it is also your job to help them understand why you think your idea might be better. Sometimes you’ll be right. But sometimes you’ll be wrong. There have been many times when the customer’s original idea worked out just fine.

Offer customers a variety of solutions: If you can’t seem to see eye to eye with your customer, don’t get mad at them. Offer them a compromise. Or try it their way, monitor results, and then try it your way if it doesn’t work out. Do this with grace. If you try it their way and it doesn’t work as they anticipated, don’t make them feel as if they have to come back to you with their tail between their legs admitting their faults. Just take the steps to achieve the intended goal.

Respond to correspondence quickly: Even if you have 10 clients, each one should still feel important and as if they were one of your top priorities. If the customer contacts you with a request or a question you can’t reply to immediately, send a response just letting them know that you have received their request and will respond as soon as possible or by x date.

Unless you’re irritated… On the occasion that I receive an email that rubs me the wrong way, I make it a point to wait at least 24 hours before I respond in order to have some cool down time. Oftentimes during this period, I learn to see the issue from the customer’s point of view and then can respond professionally and without any trace of an attitude or negative tone.

Don’t work with really bad customers: As a self employed person, you have the right to turn away business. Perhaps one of the best things I ever did was to clean house of some of my clients. One because I didn’t like the way they interacted with me even though I gave them my best customer service, others because their projects weren’t something I was proud of or because the projects simply weren’t profitable. I finished the projects and gave them enough notice and they found other people to handle their needs. There just isn’t enough time in life to surround yourself with negativity and as a self employed person, choosing your customers is one of your greatest freedoms.

What do you do to create better relationships with your customers?

I wanted to share with you one of my very favorite videos that I think very accurately portrays what is going on behind the scenes of many companies and many freelancer’s desks. If you notice some similarities between the way you run your business and this video, it might be time to adopt a healthier approach to customer relations.

Click to watch “Internet Help Desk” by 3 Dead Trolls in a Baggie (weird name, hilarious video)

Tags: Business Building //