Customer service representatives are problem solvers who need to react quickly, efficiently, while maintaining a compassionate and nourishing relationship with customers. If you have a few minutes to spare, I’d like to share you how you can build a customer service department your clients can’t help enjoying.
1. Learn, Fast
Whether you like it or not, you do not have the customer service resources that Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, or Procter & Gamble have. Making mistakes is a matter of life – even these companies made blunders during their formative years. The reason a lot of them are still standing today is because they made as many mistakes as possible, early, so they could fix those mistakes early and stop themselves from making it in the future.
2. Don’t Lose Customers
Delivering the best customer service possible means keeping your customers happy; as unhappy customers are bad for business. Here’s why: smart business owners know that it is drastically more expensive to acquire new customers and keep them happy. This expense comes at the cost of spending time fostering a rapport with already existing customers, and it especially applies to customer relationship departments who are paid to make people happy.
3. Listen, Listen, Listen
In How To Win Friends and Influence People, author Dale Carnegie relays a story about a company’s skilled “trouble shooter”. This trouble shooter was the representative of a telephone company, sent over to deal with a wild, raving client who refused to pay – citing that the telephone company’s billing system was inaccurate and false.
The representative listened to the cantankerous customer spewing up a storm for nearly three or more hours. There were four more interviews that followed over the course of a few months, and the representative merely listened to all the grievances. Never once did the representative try to interject or imply that the customer was wrong. After some time, the telephone company received a bill from the customer that was paid in full.
4. Test The Waters
People might get used to a price and will feel upset at the change. Pricing is a sensitive issue for customers and may irritate or frustrate them. That’s why, when you’re considering shifting price points for your services or products try to run tests to get a feel for the waters.
This will cut down on the load of aggravated people your customer service department has to deal with. Testing the waters before making dramatic changes, to see how your clients react to the change, goes for a lot of areas that happen within your business.
5. Don’t Change Prices Suddenly
Believe it or not, setting two-to-four pricing options for customers will only make decision making for them more difficult. It’s generally accepted that regular, everyday people merely want a plan that works for them. Throwing in options that include everything except the kitchen sink only muddles the entire ordeal. Therefore, when you’re thinking of changing prices, it is essential that you always keep the preferences of their choices in mind.
6. Deliver The Goods
A large number of problems that happen in customer service revolve around the expectations that paying customers have. When that expectation isn’t met, fists can fly and blood can boil over. This stems from the result of businesses being unclear about what services they offer, or what the features and benefits their products are.
Let customers know about what goods you can offer… and then deliver them. This will make the workload a lot easier on your customer service representatives and cut down on the time it takes to explain exactly what the company actually does or sells.
Conclusion
More than anything, it’s important for your representatives to establish common ground with the customers. By building a rapport (quickly), smoothing over tension becomes a smoother process. At the end of the day, we’re all busy and we want to enjoy life. People that call customer service are looking for ways to solve a problem that interrupts that enjoyment. The mission of your customer service should aim to help them find solutions for their problems.
Thanks for a great article. Some good customer service tips that can help just about any type of business deliver a beter service experience.
Your business can achieve success by not only providing quality products but also quality service . Most of the customers now a days are attracted with quality services . We have examples of many businesses which known for their services . Your article simply highlighted the main points to make your customer service better to increase your trust with your customers. It is necessary to understand these points for better results . Thank you for sharing