The human mind is powerful – and as a business owner, there are some psychological tricks you can use to improve your business. In this article, we’ll share customer service tips and mental techniques that will keep you focused on improvement. Read on to learn more!
1. Show Concern and Defuse Complaints
The first psychological tip has to do with customer service. According to Microsoft, providing exceptional customer service is extremely important, as it’s the determining factor in whether to do business with a company for most people (90%).
For a business owner, customer complaints can be hard to take. You’re personally invested in your company, and you’ve either built it from the ground up or worked to improve it. It can be tough to take negative feedback, especially when it seems that the customer is just being mean and disrespectful, with nothing constructive to say.
Showing concern for their well-being and putting the ball in their court is sometimes all it takes to defuse a difficult situation. Make the client feel like you’re on their team and empathize with their frustrations. Thank them for their patience and remain calm. Spot potential issues before they happen and work to ensure the situation is resolved as quickly as possible.
These tricks will humanize you in the mind of your client. In most situations, they’ll start to calm down and feel like they’re being heard. Their problem will be solved and you’ll retain a client you would have otherwise lost.
2. Enjoy the Journey, Not the Goal
A good trick for many business owners is to look at the journey as its own reward rather than expecting an external affirmation. Another way to say it is to focus on the learning process rather than an outward reward. A hunger to learn more about your business, improve your methods, and create a better place for clients and employees will get you much further than numbers-based goals.
Goals are great – but how do you feel when you fall short of them? You probably feel pretty lousy, and it can be discouraging. And if you meet the goal – great – but after you meet it, you’re not likely to try much harder in that area. You can stagnate rather than continue to grow.
Goals aren’t a bad thing, but they should be in their proper place. The journey isn’t a means to an end – it’s the entire adventure. Even when you don’t meet your goals, you should be able to come up with examples of how you’ve grown. Tout those successes as hard as you tout your monetary or number-based goals.
3. Focus on Your Customers Instead of Self
As we touched on earlier, the future is all about customer service. You can’t go around talking about how great your business is and forget that your customers are people. Every business should be adept at identifying and meeting the needs of its customers.
In doing so, you draw your target audience to you and they become your biggest fans. Learning to talk like them, think like them, and offer products or services that resolve their problems is a great way to improve your business along with your online presence.
4. Regulate Your Emotions Before You Respond
Our human nature is impulsive – that’s why they keep the candy bars by the checkout counter, right? But if you want to be successful in business, you have to learn to regulate your emotions before you respond.
This is good practice across the board: whether you’re being offered a new business opportunity that you’re very excited about or you experienced a significant loss in your company. That new business opportunity looks great – but what does the contract say? Is there anything they’re not telling you? Your due diligence is important in this matter, so you should definitely conduct some research and ask appropriate questions before you take the leap.
Business losses are tough. Maybe you’re just starting out and you realize that you bought a large quantity of unusable or damaged products. It’s disheartening – but you’ve got to remind yourself that this isn’t the end of the world. Do the next right thing.
Regulating your emotions is also an important first step in dealing with customer complaints. We’re so close to our business that a complaint against it can feel like our children are being insulted. Take some deep breaths and give yourself time before you respond.
5. Expect to Be Comfortable in Every Situation
Anxiety is a huge obstacle to overcome for anyone, but it can be especially difficult in a business context. Perhaps you’re about to have a meeting with the CEO of a company who’s interested in acquiring your company. She’s got 3,000 employees and you barely broke 300. Just thinking about the interview has your heart racing.
Take some time to assume comfort. It’s the old trick of picturing everyone in their underwear, although it needn’t come to that. Instead, imagine you’re talking with your sister or a friend who you feel really comfortable with. By imagining that you’re in a comfortable situation, you can mitigate the stress response of your body and feel more confident.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the psychological business tips we’ve explored here, but they won’t be of much use if you don’t have an established online presence. If you’d like to use an award-winning business to design your company website, that’s what we’re here for. Request a quote today to learn more!
