I know how you feel about going to the dentist; I'm married to one. He knows how you feel, too. Every day he's confronted with customers who really don't want to do business with him, would rather have heart surgery than sit down in his chair. And yet, when he's completed their treatment, the result is a patient (uh, that's 'customer') who feels good about what they see in the mirror. They feel better about them self than they did when they walked through his door. Can you say the same about your customers' experiences with you?

That's also the classic result any customer is looking for with their choice to purchase your services: they want to feel better about themselves. Regardless of the professed reason to select you as a supplier within your category of goods or services; regardless of the specific benefit, voiced or not, that your client wants to enjoy as a result of doing business with you; regardless of how smartly you write your customer policies or how truly customer-focused your benefits, the reality is this: your customer wants to feel justified in having made the decision to work with you. S/He wants to know her/his thinking and decision-making was sound. How do you support that desired result, after the sale was made?

The smart small business owner (and the big business owner, too) will know that a sale is one of many ongoing successes they can enjoy with their customers; here are other signs of success with customers, all of which will result if you focus on helping the customer feel good about having chosen to do business with you:

Repeat business

Expanded purchase choices

Referrals

Testimonials

Feedback on your plans

Complaints

Uh, wait - what was that last one again?

Hard to believe yet true: a customer who complains is one who's giving you the opportunity to be appropriately responsive and improve the offending policy, feature or benefit. Those who are not encouraged to complain will silently disappear when they believe they're experiencing some service or product flaw and you'll never know why.

Ongoing communications that educate or offer perceived advantage to your customer and pro-active invitations to make it easy for them to communicate with you are key to the ongoing sale process. That's the the one that takes place after the financial transaction. That first sale is just the beginning of a process to keep the customer happy, coming back for more and providing all the bonus benefits they can add to your business.

So, when your dentist sends out that 'time for your check up' card, remember it's another opportunity s/he has to make you smile. What are you doing with the same expected regularity that gets a toothy grin from your clients, time after time?