{"id":121795,"date":"2014-11-20T20:58:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T04:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/customerthink.com\/?p=121795"},"modified":"2014-11-20T20:58:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T04:58:00","slug":"the-7-keys-to-great-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/the-7-keys-to-great-customer-service\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 Keys to Great Customer Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
When you think about the most important facets of your business, you might be focusing on the wrong issues. While your products and services are certainly vital, they can\u2019t thrive on the market without the help of an essential factor.<\/p>\n
Your marketing team may be capable of producing incredible campaigns that encourage customers and spark emotion, but they\u2019ll fail without one critical ingredient: solid customer service.<\/p>\n
The value of customer service<\/strong><\/p>\n Customer service is the heartbeat of any healthy organization. It\u2019s the most visible point of the operation, and ultimately what consumers remember when they choose whether to become a repeat customer or move on to another company in the future.<\/p>\n Do you give customer service the attention it deserves<\/a>, or does your firm you tend to neglect its value? <\/p>\n The seven keys to good customer service<\/strong><\/p>\n If you want to place the proper focus on customer service, here are the seven most important elements you must remember:<\/p>\n 1. Know your company.<\/strong><\/em> The mistake many businesses make is to hire customer service representatives or employees who don\u2019t know anything about their enterprise. Whatever these customer service representatives may know is listed on a flashcard at their desk, and the information they have to give customers is repetitive and recycled. You need your customer service employees to know your brand, business, and activities thoroughly. That\u2019s the only way they can effectively answer questions, solve problems, and add value to your operation.<\/p>\n 2. Go to the customers.<\/strong><\/em> You can\u2019t wait for customers to come to you. Your goal should be to seek customers where they are<\/a> and identify everything you can do to enhance their experience with your brand, products, or services. This may include developing social media profiles that empower you to reach customers where they are most comfortable. Whatever you choose to do will depend on the makeup of your customers, but the central idea to remember is that you can\u2019t rely on customers to find you. <\/p>\n 3. Focus on quality.<\/strong><\/em> A quality product without good customer service can be useless, but if these two factors collaborate, you can have a powerful operation. Good customer service is greatly enhanced by having quality products and services that minimize customer complaints and major issues that generate dissatisfaction. <\/p>\n 4. Learn from customers.<\/strong><\/em> Your customer service department doubles as a mini research agency. By listening to the opinions of customers, recording their feedback, and using it to change the way you operate, you can extract much value. The most successful companies use even the criticism they receive from their customers to improve, not to become defensive. <\/p>\n