“Customer Service is what you do when things go right, but it’s who you are when they go wrong.”

Also; remember your brand. Spend the few bucks to ensure everything is uniform and conveys the same message. This includes but is not limited to:

Business Cards, Logo, Shirts, Attire, Jackets, Letterhead, Website, etc etc etc. All of these things tell the customer you are here to stay and are not some fly by not operation.

And please; buy a domain and use a real email address. None of this “supertech@yahoo.com”.

All of these things convey a subtle but very important message.

How about when you’re contracted to fix or setup a specific thing, and the customer asks for just this little bit more, and this little bit, and this little bit….

Be ready with some sort of response – I’d love to help with that, but I’m on a schedule. If you’d like to make another appointment…

Don’t mumble.

Don’t have an attitude because you know something they don’t know — we’re all ignorant about a lot of things and knowledgeable about other stuff so don’t EVEN think you know it all.

Care about the customer’s problem and do your very best to solve — if you can’t fix it because of YOUR lack of technical knowledge, you should be honest about it and not charge them more than the base service call fee.

The first time I work for someone, I send them a thank-you card (including a couple of business cards) a few days after the work is complete.

If a customer refers someone to me, I send them another thank you and invite them to visit a page on my website where they can choose a small ($5.00) gift card to one of six local establishments, like McDonald’s, Sonic, Dairy Queen, etc. I send a similar invitation to repeat customers after several jobs.

You can’t say “thank you” too often, or in too many different ways.

Another item related to your advice about not relaying too much help over the phone. Folks are always shooting me mail asking for a quick fix to this and that. If it’s a good client, I will point them in the right direction like a Google link or manufacturer’s website, but I explain I will have to charge a fee if they need further assistance. Some folks act like you owe free assistance forever since they paid you for one repair.