Entrepreneurial Success Part 5: Be the Nicest Person Your Customers Know

Part 5 of Brianlinton.com’s Series for Entrepreneurial Success | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 |

Nice is a relative term.  But face it, we all can tell a nice person from a jerk, and if you had your choice, you would prefer to do business with the nicest person possible.

Niceness communicates more to your customers than just how polite or happy you are, it instills confidence in them about the business they do with you and assures them that you are the right person to be working with.

Being nice is probably one of the simplest and most obvious characteristics an entrepreneur should have but it is all too often forgotten about.

Niceness is an integral part of entrepreneurial success, and as an entrepreneur you should always strive to be the nicest person your customer knows. Entrepreneurs are usually the face of their company, and if they are nice, their company will be viewed in good light.

Furthermore, being nice and customer service are directly linked.  Niceness is the most important aspect of good customer service, and good customer service is an integral part of entrepreneurial success.
So if being nice is so important, why aren’t we all nice?

Well, it is tough to be nice if you are not already a nice person. Niceness is a form of communication we learn throughout our lives, and some people don’t learn it too well.  But the good news is that it is something we are not born with, like red hair, but something that we can and do learn.  And it’s never too late to learn, right?

So if you want to be nicer, or if you are just a plain jerk and know it, follow the below steps.  And even if you are nice, paying closer attention to these steps will help you capitalize and monetize on your niceness through increased business.

Steps to Being the Nicest Person – In Your Customer’s Eyes

1.   Be Happy

• Happiness is a sure fire way to niceness

2.    Always Return Calls

• There are few things worse than not returning a customer’s call

3.    Send Thank You Letters

• A hand-written thank you letter for somebody’s business will help cement your nice status with a customer

4.   Smile and Laugh

• These are sure signs of niceness

5.    Never say you ‘can’t’ or ‘won’t’

• A positive attitude is a nice attitude

6.   Dress nice

• Dressing nice shows your customer you respect them – nice people respect their customers

7.    Ask for your Customer’s Advice

• Ask your customers what you can do better – this let’s them know that you respect their opinions and value their business and want to serve them better

8.    Show up for Meetings on Time

• Never make excuses for being late – make your customers feel like they are the most important customer to your company

9.   Ask Them How Their Business has Been

• Be careful with this one. You don’t want this question to have the same, often, un personal tone that “How are You” has.  This should be a sincere question delivered as a question and not as a greeting.  I often call a customer just to ask them how their business has been.  Don’t be noisy, but show you care.  It’s the nice thing to do.

10.    Don’t Bash Other Customer’s – Or Anybody

• Be neutral.  Don’t talk politics. Don’t say mean things about other people – EVER.  As soon as you start saying mean things about other people you may lose the trust of the person you are speaking to. Nice people don’t bash others behind their backs.

On a personal note, many of Sand Shack’s customers have told me they buy our jewelry because they like me and think I am nice, and some of these customers have even told me that if a sales rep takes over my job of interacting with them they don’t know if they would still buy Sand Shack’s products.  I attribute my recent entrepreneurial success to my persistent effort to be the nicest person my customer’s know.

Don’t lose out on business because you don’t say ‘thank you’ or serve your customers with a smile.  It is just plain dumb not to be nice.

Did I miss an important step in the above ‘Steps to Being the Nicest Person – In Your Customer’s Eyes’? Let us know in the comments section.

| Part 1: Have a Great Personal Story | Part 2: Be Serial at a Young Age | Part 3: Blag About Yourself | Part 4: Live What You Sell | Part 5: Be the Nicest Person Your Customers Know | Part 6: Always Ask For Business | Part 7: Always Seek Great PR | Part 8: Get People Talking About You and Your Company | Part 9: Sell Something you are Passionate about and can Easily Get |