People Helping People Help Themselves: Customer Service is the Difference

[ A collection of writings by Rich DeVos & Jay Van Andel; Co-Founders of Amway Corporation ]

We have said it before, but it deserves repeating: your competitor is the shopkeeper down the street. He has the variety, the stock, and the apparent (but not real) lower cost that make frequenting his shop very attractive to the customer.

Then what can you offer your customers to entice their business?

You can offer your customers what the shopkeepers can never provide - consistent, personalized customer service, in additional to special featured products never available in stores.

Sure, the local shopkeeper knows some of his clients by name. He can even tell them what's a good buy this week and what's new on the self. But can he tell them the one best product for cleaning the kitchen, the bathroom, the workshop, the laundry, and the garage? How about telling them what combination of products to use for cleaning a blood stain or mildew? Can he keep track of when the customer will run out of laundry detergent or remind her of an important birthday or anniversary? Can he deliver the products, and will he do so at the customer's leisure? YOU can!

Even if the shopkeeper can do some of these things, you can do them better. By concentrating on 20 customers (unlike the hundreds the shopkeeper may be handling), you can be there when each customer needs you. You can talk to your customers about their problems and how to solve them, using the Amway products you sell. You can be the friend/consultant/supplier who is always there so that they never have the need to return to the shopkeeper.

Although you, too, offer a variety of products at very reasonable prices, it's the customer service that will keep your customers interested in you. They won't let you down if you don't let them down.