If there’s anything that the road brings, it’s important business lessons and travel sickness. Some people decide to engage in online reputation management monitoring when they leave the office, whereas others just want to explore new markets. The bottom line is that customer service is everything in the world of today.
Customer service is the key to generating more B2B sales and more B2C sales. One of the best ways to build a brand is through treating your customers right. These are some of the key customer service lessons learned from the road.
Customer Service is in the Culture
There’s a reason why so many companies are constantly reimagining how they offer customer support. They know that it matters to people. Your product can be great, but if your support line comes across as rude and brusque you’re going to experience problems trying to retain customers.
People in the US expect to be served well. There’s a reason we have a tipping culture at our eateries, for example, other than the bad minimum wage levels. This has been translated into practically every other industry. Now you have to think about how you’re going to cater to that.
You shouldn’t just do enough to meet the needs of your customers. You should go even further than that. Today, organizations are actually competing based on customer support. If you can win this battle, you are putting yourself in a strong position for success.
It Doesn’t Cost Anything to Be True to Your Word
Sincerity and honesty are two commodities that are sadly in short supply in this day and age. If your customer service agents sound robotic, people are not going to believe that they care about what they think. And that’s a bad reputation to generate. You need to make sure that this isn’t happening to you.
Smile and put some feeling into your voice when you speak to clients. This simple change can completely transform the perception of your company. It’s one of the tactics that demonstrates you’re getting customer service right, and this will translate into big dollars later.
Excuses Will Never Cover Up for Bad Service
Sometimes things just go wrong. You happen to be having a bad day and you snap at that idiot who keeps asking questions that have obvious answers. It may feel good in the short-term, but the backlash can be horrific. Customer service mess-ups can bring down companies. They have in the past and they undoubtedly will in the future.
So what should you do if and when you do mess up?
You need to apologize for your mistake and make amends, as soon as possible. One of the worst mistakes you can make is to try to pretend nothing ever happened. Sticking your head in the sand won’t make it go away, and it certainly won’t repair the current situation.
Instead, you are going to have to confront the issue directly. Don’t try to make an excuse. Admit what you did and express how genuinely sorry you are. Take action and be seen to be taking action. It doesn’t matter if the person rejects your apology. The point is that the rest of your target market has seen that you have done your best to make amends.
If you want to give great customer service, you need to take the bad and the good in equal measure. Swallow your pride and do what’s right.
How Can You Train Your Staff for Great Customer Service
Travel from Maine to California and you will find that customer service is always the same. The accents may change, but the attitudes stay the same. Businesses are spending more than ever on making sure that customer service teams are up to the right standards. 84% of people hate it when agents are uninformed.
They are initiating training programs and they are making sure that every employee understands the value of fantastic customer service.
Training staff for great customer service will require an investment of time and money. See this as an investment for the future because it will pay dividends.
Conclusion
The reality is that customer service is another battleground that you are going to have to fight with people on to promote your services on the Internet. It’s now important as the quality of your product and service. Companies with mediocre products have taken a huge slice of the market just because they deliver their services with a smile.
If you want to follow suit, it’s time to start doing customer service better than everyone else. So how are you going to treat your customers right today?
