Samantha Higgins 3m 829 #customerservice
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
When it comes to customer service, some businesses are naturally better than others. Maybe your competitors are faster at answering their phones, or maybe they’re just more personable.
Regardless, with the right customer service strategies, you can make sure all your customers are happy. The best way to keep your customers coming back is to offer stellar customer service. After all, they’re the reason you have a customer in the first place.
So, here are some tips to help you improve your business’s customer service.
Be Transparent
Transparency is key when it comes to customer service. Customers expect to get a clear view of the service they’re receiving, and they want to know if there’s anything they can do to make the experience better.
If you’re not transparent, they may walk away without a problem solved, or they may walk away after feeling obligated to help. Either way, that’s not a great outcome. It’s important to be transparent with your customers from the very beginning.
Make Your Customers Your Priority
When it comes to customer service, it’s important to put your customers’ needs above your own. This means that if a customer ever has a problem (and they’re likely going to experience a problem at some point), you want to be there for them. You don’t want them to drive an hour just to be treated badly by someone on your staff.
It’s also important to put your staff’s needs first. This means that if an employee is dealing with a crisis, they should be spending their time helping that customer, not themselves.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Feedback
Another great way to help your business grow is to offer feedback on your competitors’ services. If you have a competitor that offers a certain service, and you want to know how you can improve, offer them a suggestion.
While you should always reply to customer service emails as soon as possible, you should also reach out to your competitors face-to-face and offer them feedback too. When you ask for feedback, don’t just expect it to be good or bad, or black or white. Instead, offer them a range of helpful thoughts and see what they have to say.
Offer a Human Service
Customers expect human service. They expect someone to answer the phone, help with a problem they’re having, or put a cup of coffee in for them when they’re calling during lunchtime. Human service is the backbone of any business.
It keeps customers coming back, and it keeps you from getting “stuck in a loop” selling the same products or services to the same people over and over again. If your customers aren’t receiving human service from you, they’re probably not happy.
To avoid this from happening to your business, you can include live telephone answering services as part of your customer service experience. This is much better than programming an Automated Voice Response (AVR) system that will have your customers spiraling down a series of prompts.
Respond on Time to Customers
It’s important to make every effort to respond to each and every customer, even if you have a hectic schedule. You never know when a customer is going to reach out to you, so you should always be able to pick up the phone and respond to every request or question.
Do Not Wait For Crisis
At some point in your business’s life, you’re going to have an unhappy customer. To prepare for that moment, try to use the tips above to make your customer service experience better.
Then, when the time comes, you can work with your customer to try to come to an agreement.
Take Responsibilities
As the owner of a business, you’re the one responsible for its success. As such, you have to take the initiative to make sure your customers are happy. If you want to make sure your customer service is stellar, you have to take responsibility for it.
You can’t say “the customer is wrong” or “the customer should have known better.” Instead, make sure you take the time to ask your customers what they think, and then take steps to put those thoughts into action.
Have Great Support Ticketing
If you have customers who need help with common issues, try to use the support ticketing system built into your software. This way, you have a centralized location for all of your support tickets, and you can quickly see who is responsible for what and when. You can also use this system to offer regular updates on your customer service efforts.
Final Thought
Customers want to feel confident when they’re dealing with you, so you need to make sure they’re receiving great service. With these tips, you can make sure your customer service is top-notch, and they’ll keep coming back for more.
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