Customer service is a delicate but powerful subject. Your brand depends on it! The main goal of every business’s operation is maintaining the flow of traffic and revenue for your company goals to succeed. It’s important to train your brand ambassadors or sales representatives to engage professionally and respectfully with your clients to attend to their needs and concerns in a timely manner.
Connecting and listening to your customers effectively reflects a huge percentage of what your brand values and valuing clients is essential to keeping your business running. Loyal customers should be especially prioritized. Loyal customers not only give your business referrals, they often write reviews that can reflect how your customer service team engaged with the customer Don’t forget that at the end of the day, clients are paying your employees’ salary as well as yours.
Having great customer service doesn’t cost a thing. It’s as simple as being a respectable human being and treating your clients the way you want to be treated. The following are some ways you can improve your customer-focused business:
Listen to Your Customers
Take some time to identify who your customers are and be patient while listening to them. This way you can catch every detail to what they’re addressing so you could respond effectively. Be sure to ask the right questions. What are they saying about your services? What could you do to resolve any issues? How can you improve? Pay attention to their body language, the tone of their voice, and understand how they’re feeling. Give them your undivided attention to show them they matter.!
Body Language Matters
Make it a habit to smile! Whether you are standing face to face with clients or speaking with them on the phone, smiling shows that you’re approachable and makes them feel welcomed even when behind the phone. Treat clients like guests. Would you want to stay in a hotel with an unfriendly front desk? They might not necessary be unfriendly, but by the look of their attitude you’ll most likely take your money somewhere else.
Carry genuine sincerity in your body language and in the tone of your voice. Maintain eye contact, keep your posture poised and don’t close yourself off by crossing your arms. Your actions, as well as your words, should be congruent. You can’t fool anyone if your tone is sincere, but your facial expression says, ‘I don’t care.’ Use handshakes to bond with your clients so the both of you can end the service on a good note. This shows sincerity and cooperation.
Understanding is Important
Customers need to understand how you and your business operates when it comes down to the nitty gritty. You might have the world’s best methods, but if they don’t understand it, customers can get angry, impatient and confused. Practice casual verbiage so they don’t feel overwhelmed and could understand fully especially when the matter is complex. Take the time to explain the process and how this can simplify transactions. Still, you want to add human elements (your personality) to the entire process to make it genuine.
This goes both ways for each party. If you both have a clear understanding of each other, the process goes much more smoother and won’t cause any difficulties on both ends.
The Power of “Yes”
Going above and beyond for your customers should already be a given. If they request a service (as long as it is within reasonable means), go the extra mile. If there is an issue, address it and fix it. Consumers are looking for ways to have connections with a business. When you show genuine appreciation to them, they’ll continue to return.
If you’re looking for bonus points, send thank you notes or additional promotions to continue their relationship with your business. For example, include a nicely hand written note with every order or send postcards through the mail with coupon exclusives they can use in the future. This helps them remember you! Going above and beyond outside an interaction adds a special and unique touch to make your company stand out. Always keeping a human connection in every way possible allows customers to feel wanted and valued.
Apology Matters
We need to understand that we live and work in a world where human error is bound to happen. Mistakes happen and that’s okay! What matters most is knowing how to correctly react to an issue and resolving it in the best way possible. Address the problem, apologize sincerely, and act immediately for a solution. Even though the customer may not always be correct for whatever reason, they still need justice in whatever issue they’re facing. It could simply be a misunderstanding.
Fixing Complications
Your brand should already have a set system on how to fix specific complications. If not, simply problem solve and don’t be afraid to get another perspective from a coworker or manager. Don’t look at customer complaints as a bag thing. Value them instead. This way the brand will continue to grow by learning from past mistakes and have the opportunity to eliminate any similar troubles in the future. Hearing a client yell and curse may be the last thing we want to hear, but its best to get use to it and think of it as a reason to improve. Sometimes, a customer could be having a bad day, and when they do, go out of your way to make them feel valued.
Get Routinely Feedback and Reviews
Foster suggestions on how you can improve your business. Although it may be a bit nerve wracking at first, receiving negative feedback is better than getting none. This reason allows you to tackle any obstacles your brand may be facing so it doesn’t show up later in the future. At times, brands may struggle when getting only positive reviews because they have nothing to go off of. Of course, it varies within every company but you should always find ways to improve.
Give them a space for them to address any improvements even if they did give you a high rating. Take reviews to heart and pay attention to every detail. Even if you did get some negative reviews, offer any incentives or use social media to engage with them so you could understand them one on one. There are many ways you can do this such as review aggregators, surveys, etc. See what best fits your preference.