Capturing customers' hearts

What's the best way to win customers - and then keep them? Here are the 12 keys to creating a more charismatic business to keep customers coming back for more.

What to do when customers are stacking up

Customers are beginning to rebel against waiting. Discover how other businesses handle customers stacked up and waiting for service.

Four magic phrases that help build customer trust

People buy products but they also buy attitudes. What does your attitude tell your customers about your business? Repeated use of these four particular phrases by everyone in your business will revolutionise your bottom line.

What monkeys can teach us about customer service

Five firms who use customer relationship marketing and how everyone benefits. Case studies of a garden tool supplier, a training consultancy, a courier firm, a hardware retailer, and an IT consultancy.

When and how to say 'No' to a customer

Sometimes the moment comes to tell a client 'Enough!' or 'You're wrong.' How to do it gracefully and avoid ruining your good name.

Keeping customers satisfied

Hanging on to your customers is increasingly recognised as the key to business success - so it pays to keep them happy. The six reasons customers don't come back; understanding what every customer wants; and how to deal with complaints. Plus how to recognise the six commonest types of customer from Tough Guy to Slicer, and how to handle them.

How to think like your customers

Most managers and business owners would like to think they know what their customers want - but often it's more a case of guesswork and assumptions. How to think like your customers to understand their needs and motives better.

Keep customers coming back

Customer service is king these days, and rightly so. Learn why companies are investing so much in it - and how it affects each and every one of us. Find how how to keep relationships on the boil, how to measure how effective you are at this and how to handle complaints.

Why you need difficult customers

In your search for new business, some customers may seem particularly unattractive - but perhaps they are just what you are looking for... Normally you would ditch or avoid such customers. When to make an exception.

Mind-to-mind marketing

Marketing needs to move on if it is to become more effective - but there is much we can learn from the shopkeepers of yesteryear! Learn how to understand not just what people want, but aspire to, so you can plan your long term strategy.

Answer that phone!

First impressions count, and in business, that first contact is often by phone. How to manage your phones when you're too busy to them answer yourself.

Try being your own customer

Putting yourself in your customers' shoes could really open your eyes about the way you do business! Four ways to step outside yourself to see things from your customers' persective.

Complaints? We love 'em!

'Awkward customer' is a phrase that has passed into the English language - yet people often have a good reason for complaining. Handling complaints is easy - you just have to get organised, have a system and have a plan to fall back on. Here are six steps to success...

How to build relationships with customers

Customers for life. Wishful thinking or reality? While 'CRM' is the current buzzword for customer service, there are really two very simple things involved here. The first is delivering your promises. The second is about how to become indispensable to your customers. We show you how.

Maximising customer loyalty

How to maximise customer loyalty by tapping into your existing client knowledge better. How to establish the purpose of your customer relationship development plan and then create an effective customer loyalty programme.

Customer relationship marketing in action

Five firms who use customer relationship marketing and how everyone benefits.Case studies of a garden tool supplier, a training consultancy, a courier firm, a hardware retailer, and an IT consultancy.

Managing angry customers

Complaining customers, external ones or internal ones from within your company, are an unpleasant fact of business life. How to handle complaints effectively over the phone.

What if a client screws up and blames you?

Clients can sometimes blame you for many reasons and for many things, which may be nothing to do with you or may not even 'wrong'. So how do you avoid mud flying at you, let alone sticking?

How loyal are your clients?

The difference between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is that one is just a happy customer, but the other returns to buy again. How to make sure you have the former... and the latter.

How to keep your customers satisfied

Of all the areas where a small business can compete with the big boys, customer service is the one where it should really shine. Discover how to make your business stand out from the crowd.

Wow your cumtomers and keep 'em coming!

Good customer service is so simple - yet so many businesses fail dismally at it. If you want to grow your business, it's vital to get it right.

Keep your customers - for life!

In today's crowded marketplace, winning a new customer is not enough - you have to keep them coming back for more. We explain how. We also reveal the eight core characteristics of customer service that are the hallmarks of great companies with lots of repeat business. Simple to get right, if you know what they are!

Is it any wonder that firms lose clients?

Good customer service is something a lot of firms preach - but often fail to practise. It's so easy to do and so financially rewarding that you can't afford not to get it right. The guide ten things that other successful business people do, and a look at why it pays to aim for customer delight.

Don't let buyers get away!

So you have got people visiting your website - but how do you get them to buy? In the second part of our e-commerce feature, We look at creating a great customer experience.