When a potential buyer walks through the door, calls you up on the phone, or chats with you online, your immediate reaction is to find ways to connect with them to provide quality Customer Service.

You engage in small talk by chatting about the weather or current sport scores, hoping to uncover similar interests to aid you in providing great service. Although this approach is useful, you already have more in common with your customer than you think.

Stored in the back of your mind is a toolbox full of methods from courses you took or books you read about how to provide excellent customer service. However, there is one vital piece of knowledge you can use when offering customer service and it is the one thing all of us possess — the experience of being a customer.

Besides being a salesperson, business owner, or manager, you have been a buyer. You have dealt with good and bad customer service and know what it is like to be on the buying end of the transaction.

Think of all the times when the service you were provided could have been better or, on the other hand, recall those moments when it exceeded your expectations. Envision what you would have wanted done to improve your experience or what was given that surpassed what you were expecting.

This precious knowledge cannot be gained from a book or trainer, and it should be applied to the service you provide your customers.

Communicating with potential buyers to find similarities and in having a toolbox of ways to make a sale is crucial, but providing Quality Customer Service is just as important.

You know what it is like to be a customer; remember all of the times you have walked in their shoes. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

Give your buyers Excellent Customer Service by using what you already have in common with them, which is that you know what it is like to be a customer too.

Photo Credit: roadandtrack