Last year right around this time, we moved into our beautiful newly-built home. While we're generally happy with our new home, the building process was less than stellar. Through the 4-5 months it took to complete construction, it became very clear to us that they greatly valued profit over customer service. As we neared the end of our 1 year warranty, we again felt like we were just cogs in their profit wheel instead of valued customers.

As a business owner – not to mention a consumer – seeing a business managed seemingly without much (if any) regard for its clients is maddening. While I certainly don't claim to be infallible, relationships will always trump profit.

Because really, what is customer service other than building and nurturing relationships with your clients? Customer service nurtures relationships with people, and clients are people. How's that for stating the obvious? Amazingly enough, though, a lot of businesses and corporations choose to ignore that fact, and when they look their clients in the face, they see dollar signs instead of human beings.

And the amazing thing about customer service? It covers a multitude of sins. Clients will forgive mistakes if they perceive that you have their best interest in mind and value your business relationship. On the flipside, if you blow off a client without any perceived remorse, they will go out of their way to spread the word about their bad experience.

I don't know about you, but giving my clients a reason to badmouth me isn't on my list of business goals. Because badmouthing clients equals a poor reputation. And a poor reputation means that people won't buy your product anymore. And then you might have to buy out another homebuilder with a better reputation and start using their name because yours is so tarnished. Oh wait – did I just say that out loud?

[Stepping off my soap box now]

How I learned NOT to run a business, courtesy of my homebuilder:

How not to handle customer feedback

If/when a client complains, don't blow them off, justify what you've done and/or tell them it's their fault. Or give a lame passive-aggressive apology that sound something like: "I apologize if you didn't understand when I explained to you that XYZ." It makes you look like a jerk and gives the impression that you don't care about your clients' needs and/or frustrations.

Instead: Listen, listen, listen. And then listen some more. Not only does is it the first step to diffusing a bad situation, but client feedback is a powerful way to improve the weak areas of your business.

How not to handle poor employee performance

If a client complains about their dealings with your employee or representative – we'll call him Joe – don't ask Joe to call the client back and ask what he did that warranted negative feedback. This does a few things:

• It puts the client on the spot and creates an instant barrier to honest feedback. People generally don't like confrontation, and would much rather air their concerns to a seemingly neutral third party than wag a proverbial finger at Joe and tell him exactly why he did a crappy job.
• It communicates that the higher-ups are not interested in your negative experience. If they were, they would have called themselves to get the story. Because let's face it, do we really expect that Joe will accurately and with full disclosure report why a customer is dissatisfied with him? I'm thinking the answer is "probably not."
• It peeves your client – which is not making the problem better, but worse.

Instead: Have a manager personally call the customer, apologize, then make it right. Regardless of whose fault it was, an apology is the necessary first step to making things right. It communicates that you care about their satisfaction and value your business relationship. It's customer service.

Making it right can be a lot harder, and the exact steps are different in every situation. Sometimes it's straightforward, but other times it takes a bit of creativity. Either way, it's necessary unless you want that client walking away with a bad taste in his/her mouth.

How not to time a project

Unless your client is in a rush, don't act like you are. Hurrying them through the process can give the impression that:

• There's something you've slid under the rug are hoping won't be noticed until after the contract is signed.
• You don't have enough confidence that your own service/product will stand on its own without pushing the client through the sale.
• You're desperate for the sale.

Instead: Take time to listen to their needs and make them feel comfortable with the process. The more money that's potentially changing hands, the more important it is to take the time and build their confidence that you value their business and will return a quality product for their investment.

How not to recommend other businesses

Don't recommend Crappy Vendors. Just don't do it. Because when you recommend Crappy Vendor it ultimately comes back around and looks bad on you. If/when the client brings feedback to you about this Crappy Vendor, refer back to #1.

Instead: Only recommend vendors that have a superior track record and mirror the customer service standards that you yourself adhere to (though in this case, it seems that they did).

How not to offer incentives/discounts

If you're going to offer an incentive, give an honest-to-goodness discount: Don't give the discount 17 different caveats that have absolutely nothing to do with the original sale. And for the love of Pete, don't promise your client a discount for using a crappy real estate agent, uh… I mean Crappy Vendor. It looks bad, it feels fishy, and it undermines your credibility… even more so when you rescind the discount at the last minute. If/when the client brings feedback to you, refer back to #1.

I sincerely hope that my customers walk away much happier with the process and finished product than I did after our home building experience. I don't think I can overstate how important customer service is to your customers: It can truly make or break the experience for your clients, and strongly influence whether they return again in the future.