A recent article from Entrepreneur.com lists “The Four Things Your Customers Really Want” from your business, and, perhaps surprisingly, they aren’t so different than the qualities people typically expect in a good personal relationship. When you think about customer service, you probably think about helping solve problems, being personable, or doing “the little things” to improve the client experience. These aspects are important of course, but in general it really comes down to trust and showing that you care. The article lists these questions to which you should be able to answer, yes:

1. Do you like me? Everybody wants to be accepted and liked, no matter what the context of the relationship. Customers can tell if you’re sincere, and if they know that your relationship goes beyond the money they give you, they’ll likely be much more willing to give you more.
2. Do you care about me? Just like people, your business is never going to be perfect all the time, but as long as clients know you truly care, they’ll be willing to overlook some minor flaws. Are you just trying to get as much money out of them as possible, or are you doing everything you can to meet their needs and improve their lives?
3. Can I trust you? Trust is conveyed through confidence and following through on promises, and part of that is timeliness. If someone reaches out to you with a question or concern and your response isn’t prompt, you’ve probably done irreparable damage to their trust in you.
4. Do you know what you are talking about? Everybody likes good advice. Customers highly value knowledge and competence in those who serve them. Employees might not know the answer to every single question, but they do need to know how to handle every situation properly in order to find the answer or correct the problem. That comes back to training. Having systems in place and training on specific scenarios will put your workers in a good position to be successful.

Click here to read the article from Entrepreneur.com.