Cake Decorating Business #7: Customer Service

Part #7: Customer Service

Customer service is something which is vitally important to the cake industry. The products we provide are highly personal, are usually a luxury, and we provide them at a time when people are feeling emotional (weddings, birthdays and other life milestones.) Good customer service is also what brings people back to us time and again. In an industry
crowded with talented people, sometimes it’s the service more than the product which ensures customer loyalty.

High standards of customer service is something which should apply throughout the experience a customer has with us. From their initial contact all the way through how you treat them after the event, your customer service should be of a consistent, high quality. We’ve all had the experience of customers which frustrate us or don’t treat us as well as we think they should, and that’s unfortunate but we are in a service industry almost as much as we are in a product industry. It’s the relationships we build with our clientele which matter the most, as those customers become your best marketing tool as they share their positive experience with other potential clients.

How we do we give our customers great service? The very first thing to remember is that you are in business to solve a problem for your customers – for example, the ‘problem’ is that they need a cake for an event and can’t do it themselves.. So if we’re solving their problems, we need to come up with the best way to do that – and here’s what I suggest:

• Communicate in a timely, polite and clear manner. This does not mean you need to reply to every email within ten seconds of it appearing in your in-box, but it does mean you need to reply within a reasonable time frame and answer the
  questions they have asked you. This also applies to phone communication – you need to pick up the phone and be polite. This sounds so simple but many times we’ve called or emailed businesses and gotten a less than friendly response. If
  you’re not in a position to answer the phone, don’t! Let it go to voice mail and reply when you do not have a house full of kids or are driving down the road. With email, take the time to reply when you’ve got time and not when you’re in a rush and in no mood to reply.
• Listen to your customers. Sometimes this is about what they do NOT say as much as what they do say. It can be very frustrating when a consult goes on forever or the client is struggling to pin down what they want in terms of design. In this case I’ll say, “What things do you definitely not want on your cake?” and this helps them narrow down their interests. If they tell you your website is hard to navigate, that you were hard to get in touch with, that they did not understand your voice mail – all of that is useful feedback which helps you improve your customer service. Similarly if they give you positive feedback about your service or your products, it’s great to know that you are on the right track.
• Be reliable. Deliver on what you say you will, when you say you will and be very clear about it. Rather than, “I’ll get back to you next week sometime,” say “I’ll get back to you by Thursday afternoon at the latest.” It’s just human nature that we like to know what to expect and then we want people to meet those expectations. This is also about having terms and conditions set out, so that your customer also knows what you expect of them in terms of payments and communication.
• Be extra helpful. Customers really appreciate when you go the extra mile for them, even if there is no immediate value to you. If you can’t fulfill an order because you’re booked out, why not suggest someone who can? If a customer is looking for a product you do not sell, suggest another place they might find it. Perhaps give customers a free packet of birthday candles with their cake order. Whatever it is you do, it’s important to make customers feel important. Remember – you are there to solve their problem!
• Deal with issues if they arise. If a client has a complaint or an issue which needs resolving, you should resolve it in as quickly and professional a manner as possible. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but clients judge businesses both on how they handle good transactions as well as how they handle bad ones. If you’ve gotten a bad review online, or been sent a negative email – deal with it professionally and resist the urge to rant or get angry at them.

Customers are what keep our businesses actually in business, so it’s important that we treat them well from the beginning to the end of their experience with us. While it would be a lot more fun to make sugar flowers or take cake classes, the reality of it is the majority of our non-cake time is spent in client interaction. Developing and maintaining customer relationships is a key success factor for those businesses that are in it for the long term.

Written by Michelle Green 2014, Copyright The Business of Baking