Making a sale and getting paid today is a great feeling, but do you know what’s better? Making a customer for life that returns month-after-month or year-after-year. That sale and that payday gets multiplied. Sounds good right? To get there, you have to provide great customer service.

Customer service is not about making a quick sale today. It’s about building a relationship and loyalty over time. It’s about solving problems for your clients and providing solutions in such a way that you build extreme trust and loyalty. It’s about providing service that is so good, your clients won’t want to go anywhere else, regardless of price.

Customer service is the key ingredient to customer retention. In a service oriented business such as detailing, most of your sales and revenue is generated by repeat customers. Sure it’s important to get new customers, but it’s much more important to keep them and get them to return regularly. It takes a lot of marketing dollars to gain a new customer, but very few to keep them coming back. It’s not a one-time transaction, you’re clients have a lifetime value that grows as you build that relationship and provide an amazing customer service experience.

How do you gain, maintain and retain your customers? You do it through education, trust and loyalty. Educate your customers about your products and services. Show them that you are the expert in your community. Gain their trust by showing them that you have their best interests at heart. Do they really need that add-on service? Will it really benefit them, or does it just benefit your bank account? Through education and trust, you will create a loyal customer that will return over and over again. But loyalty is a two-way street. If they are loyal to you, you must be loyal to them and continue to provide that outstanding customer service. Don’t take a returning customer for granted, earn their next visit over and over again.

There are three things that will help you provide amazing customer service. The first is passion. If you are passionate about what you do and the service you provide, it will reveal itself in everything you do and have a positive effect on your customer’s experience. Second, constantly look for opportunities to go the extra mile for your customers. They will tell stories about you to their friends and you will not only retain your customer, but gain new ones too! And finally, follow-up and follow-through with every single client every time.

Remember, you are in business to make money, but that’s simply the end result when done correctly. You are mostly in business to solve problems, provide value and help people. If you put your customers first, they will put you first. If you’re the real deal, people will know it and they will come to you over and over again!