A full house of 75 Lakewood business owners gathered Tuesday night in the community hall of The Strand for a very informative workshop hosted by the Lakewood Community Services Corp. (LCSC) and the Township’s Lakewood Development Corp. (LDC).
In opening remarks, Rabbi Moshe Z. Weisberg emphasized the importance of treating your customers well as a means of increasing your business; and more importantly, because it is the right thing to do.
The program continued with an engaging and informative presentation by Steve Shain, COO of LTC, a local highly successful service business. His training emphasized the cornerstones to excellent customer service – Constantly, Consistently, and Exceeding Customer Expectations. The dynamic presentation included fascinating real life examples of these principles. An excited and inspired audience energetically applauded the presentation, asked pertinent questions and added helpful succinct comments.
The LCSC thanks the Lakewood Development Corporation for their continual support and funding of the Business Links series of Networking Events.
Alex (Shea) Lowinger, Director of LCSC Small Business Services, facilitated the business networking segment of the evening. Each business owner was encouraged to introduce themselves and describe what they do and what services they offer. Business owners passed out business cards, learnt about each other, shared information and saved contact information. Alex also introduced a new initiative, the Lakewood Business Incubator to help develop new businesses and increase their chance for success.
Other business services offered by the LCSC include assistance with applying for UEZ Microloans. These loans are designed for small business growth and can be granted to businesses seeking to establish, expand, or redevelop their companies. Businesses can apply for loans of up to $35,000, at an interest rate of 3.5%, and a repayment period of 10 years. For more information, please contact Alex Lowinger at (732) 901-6001 x 209.
[Press Release]
Is there a recording of this speech?
PCS is having a great series of classes for Small Business and others interested in developing and understanding business skills. Starting this Monday 5/14.
They say that customer service is more important than price & selection etc; people really like good service!
Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t have some policies (people like and understand clear policies), or to ask why they’re returning the product (maybe there’s something you can help them with, and they’ll be happier like that), or to work things out with them (things have to work out for both sides), but it should be clear, upfront, and discussed. And, especially if the business made some mistake, to bend over backwards to correct it.
It is well known that Amazon’s success comes very much from their excellent customer service (and, of course, the success of all upstanding businesses).
On the other hand, it is also important for customers to realize that businesses are being run by real people – who are trying to earn an honest living; they’re certainly not trying to do anything against the customer, as that would not be good for business, not to mention they are upstanding people themselves. Therefore, it is important to speak patiently when discussing an issue.
But above all, people should, in fact, call in when they have an issue or suggestion – customer feedback is taken very seriously [by any wise business]!