Good customer relations are important for any company. They may be particularly critical though for small businesses. A recent report suggests that people hold small businesses to a particularly high standard when it comes to interactions with customers.
The research reviewed five studies that looked at what expectations customers had of businesses. It found that customers had higher expectations for helpfulness, friendliness and honesty for small businesses than they did for larger companies. It also found that customers tend to respond more negatively to bad treatment by small businesses than bad treatment by big companies.
So, a lot can be at stake for a small business when it comes to whether its customers feel their expectations are being met in their interactions with the company. Missteps by a company on this front could do great harm to customer trust and put its well-being and future at risk.
Given this, it can be critical for owners of small businesses to be mindful of what expectations they are setting for their customers. It is also important for them to take steps to ensure that these expectations are met and that their customers feel they are being treated well.
One thing that can have big impacts on customers views on how friendly, honest and helpful a given business is is how the company responds to disputes with customers, such as legal disputes. Skilled business law attorneys can help companies with protecting their goals, including their goals regarding customer relations, when such disputes come up.
