In a recent blog we discussed what it means to keep a customer’s loyalty. But how do you do that? There are some things as sales professionals that we can do to increase customer satisfaction.

When it comes to customer service, there are certain principles that need to be followed when working with clients. With these 6 principles, sales professionals can improve their customer relationships and increase success of retaining clients.

Because of the length of this topic, this article will share the first six. The other five will be posted later in the week.

Below are the first 6 Principles of Customer Service:

1. Principle: The Golden Rule still applies. Do unto your customers as you would have others do unto you. Got it? Good. I don’t think I need to go on and explain this one. It’s a simple concept, but drives huge results.

2. Principle: Under promise, over deliver. Don’t be afraid to go the extra mile and look for “WOW” opportunities. A ‘wow’ opportunity is when you pull a super hero move and go above and beyond what is expected of you and your company. it doesn’t have to be major ways, either. For example, if you notice that a customer just had a major product announcement or other news, send your contact an email congratulating them for the success of their business.

3. Principle: We solve an issue right the first time. Have you ever had the experience of ordering either food or a product and the people delivering it to you just can’t seem to get it right? It can be very frustrating to have to keep sending it back until you get what you asked for. Don’t be that guy. Get the product your customer has asked for right the first time. It will save both parties time, money, energy and grief in the long run. And if you are correcting a mistake, make sure you only have to correct it once.

4. Principle: We follow up with customers until they know the issue is solved or can’t be. We make sure to call people back after we’ve talked to them and discussed what issues they are having. It’s not just important to find out your customers’ problems, but also let them know that they’ve been rectified.

5. Principle: The person who owns the customer, owns their perception. Whoever in your company answers the phone and finds a customer at the other end is the one who has control of what that customer thinks of the company. If the customer has a bad experience with that sales professional, then their perception of the company probably won’t be very high. On the other hand, if the experience is a good one then their opinion of the company will probably be good as well.

6. Principle: The more we empower the front line responsibly, the better we service the customer. Don’t be afraid to give tools to your sales and support reps. They can use them to help your customers. Give them the knowledge they need to answer and help the customers. You won’t regret it.

Following these 6 principles (and the other 5 to come) can be difficult but worthwhile if you complete them all. If you combine the customer loyalty cycle with these service principles you will have a powerful way to interact with your clients.