Foundations of great customer service
Excellent Customer Service is one of the things that every company in the world must achieve. Otherwise, they won’t survive in this competitive world!
Last time, we were studying what wast excellent customer service. We also discussed one of the most important aspects of customer service. That means being humble. Remember you owe yourself to your clients. If you did not read the last post, you can do it here.
If you managed to grasp those concepts we discussed before, I am pretty sure you should be clearer by now. Let’s move to the next step. I want you to start building the foundation in your customer service.
Are you onboard? Let´s go!!!
The great divider
Customer service is the great divider. This can make or break your business. Understand this: it does not matter if you have a great product or competitive prices. If your customer service is sub par, you will struggle… a lot.
This is why I wanted to provide some directions for you. If you apply this to your customer service it will improve and your clients will be happy to return.
1) Be easy to reach
When your clients have problems, they will need to contact you to find solutions. Put yourself in their shoes. If you buy something and you need help you would want to be attended quickly. Guess what… the same goes for your clients. They want to be supported… and it is up to you to be there for them.
Offer many ways for them to contact you, several phone numbers, email, and even social media.
A couple of years ago, a friend told me about an excellent customer service experience she had with KLM. Her husband was flying from Panama City to Amsterdam. She couldn’t reach him and there was no information on KLM site due to technical issues. She wrote a DM to KLM on Twitter. 5 minutes later, they replied. They told her, the flight departed with a 7 minutes delay and confirmed her husband was onboard. THEY EVEN CONTACTED HER WHEN HE LANDED! She was so delighted with this treatment that KLM became her favorite airline.
Provide many ways for people to contact you, and also make sure you have enough staff to attend all channels. This will make a great impression on your customers.
2. Be quick or be dead
Again, put yourself in the shoes of your client. If you have a problem, wouldn’t you like help as fast as possible? Your clients want that too.
Try to create a policy for your customer support department so every request is answered in less than 24 hours. This will increase the performance of your department.
3. Hear to understand
One of the great problems of almost every person in the world is that they hear to reply. Most people are hearing the other person and they are creating their reply on the fly.
This is a big no-no in customer service. You need to listen to your client. Show that you care about them and their concerns. Only when you are sure they have expressed themselves, go and try to offer the best solution you can provide.
4. Remember to be polite.
There is one say that sums this up. If you are trying to deal with a client that is giving you a hard time never lower yourself to his position. Instead, keep your politeness and they will calm themselves. Never lose your temper.
Also, a bad answer will hurt your reputation.
5. Keep your word
Always honor your commitments. If you promised something… you need to deliver. There is nothing worse than someone who offers something that ends up being a lie.
This also applies when you sat you are going to do something. If you said you will do something… do it!
Let’s see this conversation:
You: You will receive a call from technical support on Monday
Client: Great, I will be waiting
On Monday morning… no call was received. Then client calls again.
You: Sorry we had an issue… tomorrow morning we will contact you
Client: Fine! Thank you…
Next morning nothing happens… you can be pretty sure that your client will leave. You are fooling him and making him lose time. Your reputation will suffer pretty hard if this happens a lot.
Always honor your commitments. It is the best thing you can do!
6. You need client relationships, not sales!
One of the biggest myths in business is that sales are everything! This is not true.
Why? Let’s suppose you close ten sells… but you don’t treat these clients well. They won´t come back.
When you treat them well, they will come back and you can have 20 sales. Sales are a product of a proper relationship campaign!
Your biggest asset is your relationship capital! Do not underestimate it!
7. The No Defense-Defense Strategy
I want to present you with a strategy called the No defense-defense. It consists of two simple rules.
a) If you committed a mistake, you should not defend yourself. You need to apologize and act to help the client with this situation.
b) If you did not commit a mistake, you don’t need to defend yourself. Be polite, and teach the client in a manner he can understand what is going on. Remember point 4.
8. Train your staff.
Grab all these tips, and start teaching them to your customer support staff. You will see how clients start returning and the voice spreads on how awesome your company is.
What is your word is customer service?
Do you have any more tips on strategies in customer services that you might want to share? Then feel free to send those to me in using the form below. I live by these rules so I will contact you and we will discuss.
If you need deeper help with your customer relations department I will be happy to help you. Use the form below and let’s discuss what we do to improve this aspect of your business!
See you soon!