“Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement”: J.C. Penny
Corporations around the world spend billions of dollars on advertisements every single year. In the United States alone, companies will spend nearly $200 billion on ads this calendar year, and that figure is set to increase by 10% by 2018.
With such staggering numbers, perhaps companies should change their policies and spend more time and resources on customers themselves? Following the logic of J.C. Penny’s quote, organizations— whether young or old, small or big— can invest more money into providing better and more impactful consumer treatment to all buyers.
76% of shoppers agree that consumer support shows the actual color of a company. Hence, it is pivotal that firms provide superior customer care.
Still confused as to how to provide excellent customer support? Here are our five tips on how you can do so correctly.
1. Tools and software make the process a breeze.
45% of adults in the United States will cancel their transactions if they do not get prompt answers: Source
We create technology and tools that make our lives easier and solve our problems faster. As companies look for new and more expedient ways to interact with their shoppers, it is not a surprise to see that innovative firms are regularly developing new software and tools in the domain of consumer aid.
Technology can empower your team to engage in meaningful and profound conversations with your clients. In addition, users can make the most of these technologies to correctly convey their issues.
Support teams can use several tools, the most prominent being live chat, automatic callbacks, self-service sites, ticket-generating systems and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Tools like Tagove Live Chat are becoming ubiquitous on websites because of the features they provide to all parties involved. A live chat includes real-time video chatting, conferencing and co-browsing. Such tools can help consumer support teams troubleshoot and demonstrate their products and services more efficiently than they could with multiple emails or via the phone.
Companies also use prominent CRM programs to manage their customer databases and interactions. CRM programs allow the organization’s staff to automate, organize and synchronize the marketing and support system in a bid to provide a flawless user experience. Thanks to the database management features they provide, most users consider Skyward CRM, Salesforce CRM, and Zoho to be very compatible.
Your support team can provide timely service to all of your clients quite efficiently with the use of these tools and software.
2. Respond to all problems and try to solve them quickly.
More than 40% of shoppers look for quick email replies from companies: Forrester Research Inc.
Speed is the most important aspect of providing competent consumer support. Promptness is essential, as shoppers hate when quick service evades them. Delays alone are enough to cause companies to lose sales numbers.
In today’s modern world, generating a quick reply should not be a huge problem for your support team. There are several methods and channels that your team can use to link up with customers. To start, you can ask your support structure to monitor your social media pages because many users dish out their frustration on them.
You can also empower your team to make decisions so that they do not have to refer cases to their superiors. In addition, you can even enhance your IVR system so that customers can have a better experience when they call you.
According to Frost, 41% of users hate it when they are placed on hold.
Therefore, keeping shoppers on hold or frequently transferring their calls is not an option that your support department should consider. It’s most beneficial to all parties to solve cases quickly. For instance, when you serve the client quickly, you solve the case fast and your team moves on to the next file.
Check out how swiftly and efficiently JetBlue Airways pacified a customer when his on-air entertainment system did not work. Please note that everything happened in one day!
3. Maintain a positive attitude and be kind to your consumers.
89% of shoppers will ditch you for a rival if you provide them with a negative experience: Source
Buyer interaction is either is the result of confusion or a problem with your product or service. Mumbo jumbo accompanying a cold attitude is the last thing your callers want to hear from your team.
Remember—you only have one chance to create an excellent first impression, so make it count.
If you accommodate your customer with your positive demeanor, then it doesn’t matter what the problem is because that particular user will feel appreciated. Many say that positive language opens up bridges to a constructive consumer experience. Your team can start by greeting your customer politely and following up by asking the user’s name.
Your team can then refer to the person’s name throughout the remaining conversation, emphasizing what CAN be done for them rather than what CANNOT be done. Additionally, when making requests with respect to a customer ID, account number, etc., your team should ask convivially. Emphasizing ways to make the process faster and more efficient for your customers is always a good idea as well.
Avoid statements like, “Please keep your ID ready as, without it, we cannot process your request.”
Delete words such as cannot, will not and do not from your vocabulary. Appropriate team training allows your staff to emphasize providing your customers with a pleasant experience when they reach out to you.
One of the best ways to provide a good customer experience is by taking care of your employees first. If they are happy, then there is a good chance that they will transfer that positivity back into their work too.
4. Do what you say and fulfill your promises.
Delivering what you promised is the most basic habit that your company and your support department should practice. Several instances in the past reflect the failure of support executives to deliver per expectations, regardless of their commitments. According to this study, most firms only fulfil their promises half the time.
Even though firms (80% of them) might say that they dish out fantastic customer support, only a few (8%) who do business with them agree. Source
It is vital that organizations take consumer support seriously. They need to honor the commitments they make. Failure to provide what you promised will result in your company certainly losing a user for good. In business, and most especially in customer service, you must not break your promises, regardless of the situation or reason!
Empower your team to deliver on and to honor the promises they make.
Remember, it all starts with the little things. If you commit to calling your customer back at 5 P.M, then be sure to pick up the phone at 4.59 P.M.
5. Go the extra mile and deliver the unexpected.
Training your team to create a customer-centric environment might be just what your company needs. Sometimes, you have to give your executives the freedom to go the extra mile just to make a client happy.
It does not matter what “extra” thing you do. It might be as simple as quickly and unexpectedly resolving an issue or waiving a late-payment penalty fee. Whatever it is, doing something unexpected could win you a loyal customer in return!
Delight and surprise your buyers by making them feel special so they will shop with you again. Your support team can pay a little more attention to your shoppers and listen to what they need or require.
In this scenario, Samsung very cheekily provided something extraordinary. Or see what Sainsbury did when a little girl offered them a piece of advice. Best of all, this tale from Gaylord Opryland will surely exceed all of your expectations!
Stories like these always bring a smile to people’s faces. They help corporations appear more human and less robotic.
In the words of Sir Richard Branson:
“The key is to set realistic customer expectations and then not only to meet them, but to exceed them – preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.”
Providing top-notch customer service needs to be your company’s core priority. The more seriously and earnestly you take the customer service process, the better your chances are of having an edge by creating loyal and returning customers.
Latest posts by Sawaram Suthar (see all)
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I’ve always appreciate customer acquisition services as long as they really matter from both ends. It’d be hard for any service without premeditated interest to begin with. To bring customer service excellence is one key towards success – which many investors would probably aim this year! Nevertheless, such an informative read! Thank you for sharing this one!
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Its really amazing blog with very much helpful information, thank you so much for writing this great blog here for us.
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Interesting! Thank you for sharing.
It is important to make your customers fully satisfied to grow business tremendously.
Thank you for sharing some excellent market tested advice Sawaram!
Your five proven suggestions, will definitely help propel
any business owner, service provider and entrepreneur forward,
in a big way!
Irregardless of their current size and or budget.
And thanks for sharing your outstanding and incredibly informative
infographic.You have shared a ton of extremely valued tips!
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In this customer driven market, where competition is becoming stiffer day by day and critical deadlines are rife, one cannot think of business growth without exceptional customer service. A number of organizations underestimate the importance of customer satisfaction, while laying the foundation of their business. They focus on the quality of services, organizational infrastructure but often overlook the fact that it is consumers who can make or break a business.
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Great article. This idea are really incredible about the marketing. So thanks for your article.
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Great customer service is the most important of all when having a business. It is important to treat our customer’s needs accordingly. As a business owner, I also experienced difficulties in handling customers before, but having a great knowledge about your business and passion to do it can help boost your marketing.
Customers are the focal point of any business. Without customers, there won’t be any money, and without money, there won’t be any business. This is a great guide indeed, but, on the other hand, these attitudes would depend on the person whether or not they can be good entrepreneurs. This can also be applied online. With the big impact of technology, earning customers online is, without a doubt, one of the best ways in acquiring customers. Of course, having more customers require a better customer service experience and I do think that this post is a very good help to aspiring entrepreneurs.
I focus on high quality customer service. I do income taxes in a town I grew up. I see my customers when I go out. I, also, value honesty. If I made a mistake on a tax return, I tell my customer.
Chris
Owner CEL Financial Services
Registered bonded California CTEC Tax Preparer
Income Tax Preparation Santa Paula Fillmore Piru
Customer service is the most important thing to get more success into the businesses. Thank you for sharing such an awesome information.
Great post, well I must say I’m kinda week in marketing stuff so this post gave really great information about it.
Thanks
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Great article, as someone who has worked in the service industry for many years I know the value of the unsaid values which makes the difference with customer service.
I had raised a ticket for a failed RSS feed and my supplier just told me it was down to a 3rd party issue and not their problem, after showing them screenshots, code and other supporting evidence I had to escalate it to my account manager, after being turned down 3 times for support, each time I added to my case with extra documentation, this resulted in the issue being sent to the development team to be resolved.
It just goes to show that even when the tables are turned, you can provide “good service” as a customer too, in the form of detail, persistence and willingness to get more information to your supplier to get what you want/need
Hi Lee,
Yes, unfortunately, that is typical of experiences with support personnel. Perhaps management has not made it clear enough to them that when you don’t satisfy your existing customer base, they will jump ship at the first opportunity.
And worse for your company, unhappy people are far more motivated to complain loudly and publicly online than happy customers will ever be. Bad reviews can really hurt sales and cause people to look elsewhere.
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Hi Gail,
Sadly the refusal to deal with the issue came from management and the MD subsequently closed the case down without resolving it stating they do not support the issue ie a properly coded RSS feed! Needless to say we are looking at alternatives and will have no issue in telling everyone to avoid them like the plague
Hey Sawaram,
Customer service what makes your company better. I have noticed that people are trying to generate the value-added services for their customers.
The infographics is explaining everything. The customer satisfaction should be you main priority.
Thanks for elaborating it.
~Ravi
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Great idea shared about how to increase the best customer service experience. The article includes the best ideas and thoughts . Its really helpful to the both customer care business and IT departments. Thanks for the article.