Beneath most successful businesses lies good customer service. You might be able to get by for a while with sub-par consideration of your clientele, but you won’t be able to stay afloat for long if your customers aren’t happy. Companies and businesses should regularly assess how they can improve customer service, but it’s important for the individual as well. Here are:

7 Ways to improve your customer service

Trust your customer

You expect your customers to trust you, and it should work both ways. Take Nordstrom for example. I can buy almost anything there, wear it for a while and if the zipper breaks, or the quality fails in any way, they’ll let me return the item. Nordstrom asks me to trust that their product lives up to their prices when I buy their merchandise, but I know they trust me because they let me bring less than satisfactory items back for return. For all they know, I wore the pants for a month, got sick of them, and just wanted to return them. But Nordstrom gives me the benefit of the doubt. They trust me, so I keep going back.

Make shopping easy

Don’t ask your customers to fill in everything from their name to their great-grandfather’s blood type when they make a purchase or sign-up for a service. Keep it simple and make it easy for them to complete a transaction.

So much of the our shopping takes place online now. If a customer has to give you their credit card over the phone, or mail-in a check, you’re in trouble. Install an online shopping cart, make shipping and delivery easy and reasonable. (Alexander’s has a solution like this for ordering printed materials. It’s called Divvy.)

Place good people on the front line

People are the key to good customer service. Ask yourself if the people who are interacting with the customers most are the kind of people you want to interact with the customer. Are they patient, competent and kind? If you have doubts about their communication skills or ability to serve your customers well, then why are they representing your business or company?

Be sincere

Customers can usually tell when you’re being fake, dishonest, or just trying to make a sale. Every time I visit, my local bank teller is over-the-top bubbly. I am fine to be friendly and make a little bit of small talk, but I get a little uncomfortable when they start asking personal questions all in the name of friendliness. Don’t act like the customer is your best friend before you even know them. Be kind and sociable, but be real. Good customer service comes when you build relationships with your customers based on consistent and trustworthy actions. People aren’t won over with insincere service.

Be transparent about your mistakes

Things happen, and everyone messes up. Customers don’t have to be understanding when they’re paying you for your service or product. However, your customer will be more willing to stick with you through the mistakes if you are upfront about the issue and you rectify the wrong.

Prepare for the worst

Now that we’ve established that mistakes happen, you need a plan for when they do. Customers are not generally patient when things go awry, so know how you’ll deal with them when they get upset, and know what you can do to make them happy. There is nothing worse than a customer service representative promising something they can’t deliver, so make sure that everyone dealing with customers knows the limits and process that comes with assisting customers. Ideally, having a process in place for when things go wrong will help eliminate mistakes even before they reach the customer.

Deliver quality products and services

You can’t fake a good product. There are a lot of factors involved in brand loyalty, but no one will be loyal to a brand that can’t deliver quality or value. If you want to improve your customer service, consider improving your product or service.