Delivering excellent customer service is never an easy thing to do. Nothing good in life will ever come easy, so if you want to be remembered as a legendary entrepreneur it is important that you try your best to look into every aspect of your business and ensure that you are not lagging behind on any front.
No person will be willing to spend money on a substandard product, especially when in this day and age he or she could be getting something better by even looking too far. If you do not bring your A game at all times as well as under all circumstances, your business will never be able to get off the ground.
What is Good Customer Service?
Any company can have customer service, but there are distinct things which differentiate good customer service from the bad customer service. Excellent customer service is when your focus is not primarily on ruthlessly making more and more money and building your profits; rather your focus is on trying to create a business empire which has a strong foundation.
The chief foundation on which any company is built is the trust and happiness of the customers. In order to have good customer service, it is of paramount importance to have a dedicated, trained set of experts with good customer skills to deliver good service.
What is Bad Customer Service?
There are many companies which do not have excellent customer service. Bad customer service is when the staff is not adept to handle problems which the customers are facing and providing bad service. Persons who are in the customer service department should have in-depth knowledge of the products and at the same time, they should be able to communicate in a proper manner.
If they speak in an incomprehensive and incoherent manner then no one will be satisfied by the service provided. In addition to this, these trained professionals should have the patience to listen to whatever is being said to them without getting angry or annoyed.
Importance of Customer Service:
Good customer service implies that you have a genuine concern for the customers who are spending their hard earned money to buy products from your shop, store, website or boutique. It is only when you give excellent customer service that you will be able to get a dedicated set of customers who will slowly but surely begin to place their trust in you blindly.
What you must do is put yourself in the shoes of the customer and think about every aspect of your product. If you ignore the needs as well as the demands of your customers then you will never be able to develop a thriving business no matter how hard you try.
Excellent Customer Service Techniques:
Primarily speaking there are a number of different kinds of customer service techniques and it is up to the company service management to decide on which technique they could like to make use of. In this present technological age, most companies opt to have customer care service through emails, text message or even through live chat.
In addition to this, there are also a number of companies which have customer care offices set up across the city so that people can get in touch with the customer care service as easily as possible. Maintaining a proper customer care unit isn’t easy at all, but it is necessary and worth it.
How to Treat Customers Professionally with Respect?
When you work for a customer service, your training primarily pertains to helping you treat your customers. If you do not treat your customers in a satisfactory manner, then chances are that your customer service ratings ‘are going to be very bad indeed.
Customer satisfaction should be your main motto as the importance of customer satisfaction is very important. Companies should have regular courses by which employees can keep bettering the manner in which they deal with the customers.
Even a small mistake on the part of the employees could really create a bad impression in the minds of the customers. Once customers have lost their trust in you. then trying once more to win this trust back is something which is near impossible.
1. Do not make promises which you will never be able to uphold:
In order to deliver excellent customer care service, it is of paramount importance that you train your customers in such a way that they know exactly what is expected of them. The reputation of the company rests on them entirely.
So ensure that at no point in time are they promising customers things which they will never be able to give or making promises which they will never be able to uphold. As mentioned above maintaining a customer care centre isn’t cheap and it is of course an additional expenditure, yet if things are done in a proper manner then the company will be able to yield very rich dividends.
2. Do not take out your anger on your customers:
No matter how you are feeling on a given day or how bad things are in your personal life, you should ensure that you are always bringing your best to the table when you are speaking to your customers.
If you do not speak in a satisfactory manner then it will reflect badly not only on you as an individual but on the company as a whole. Companies should ensure that they are mindful about who they hire and they just for the sake of it shouldn’t be hiring any and every individual for the posts. So when on the phone or attending to the customer, ensure that you focus on the task at hand and give the customer your undivided attention.
3. Be mindful of your manners at all times:
It is a universally excepted fact that you place your most well behaved employees in your company’s customer care service and also in your front office jobs. People who are employed at the customer care center should be people who have exceptional manners and no matter what happens they do not let any stress or negativity show on their face.
Even the smallest of things which you do or say will remain etched in the mind of your customers, so ensure that you do not give them even the smallest of reasons to complain. If they have taken the time to come to your customer care center ensure that you offer them a beverage.
4. Sound cordial as well as friendly so that the customers are happy:
The better the rapport you are able to develop with your customers the better it will be for you as well as your company as they will feel like their grievance is being treated with gravity, yet this having been mentioned, it is very important that no employee starts acting over friendly with customers and speaking in a flippant as well as casual manner.
If you as the manager see that something like this is happening, then you should warn your employee against doing this and if he or she continues doing this then you should most certainly not shy away from firing him or her at the earliest as this is unacceptable.
5. Encourage the customers to call back again:
When you have finished dealing with your customer in a satisfactory manner and they are about to close the chat, hang up the telephone or exit your customer care centre you should encourage them to come back and speak to you again if they experience the same problem again.
It is the responsibility of the customer care centre to act in a reassuring manner so that customers know that you will be there to help them no matter what the time or what the problem is. You should not try to make money off people when they come for even the smallest of problems. You should show them that you are not in this business solely for the money.
6. Do not let the customers know you are in a hurry even if you are:
Nowadays no one has a lot of time on their hands and no matter how much of a hurry you are in you should ensure that you give each customer the amount of time which he or she needs. You should most certainly not try to get rid of him or her at the earliest as that is something which is absolutely not acceptable.
Chances are that if you hurry them up they will not be able to tell you their problem in a proper manner and they might start getting a little nervous and angry. This being stated ensure that you keep the line moving in an efficient manner.
7. Be respectful no matter what and don’t assert your superiority:
When you work in the customer care department of a company, one of the worst things which you should shy away from doing at all costs is trying to assert your superiority and act as though you are doing the customers a favor by helping them in their time of need.
Once they have purchased your product and are having some kind of difficulty, it is your responsibility to ensure that you look into the matter and act accordingly. So ensure that you act in a respectful manner.
8. Don’t give advice which you are not sure of:
As it has been mentioned above making promises which you cannot keep is wrong indeed but in addition to this, it is also very wrong to give advice which you are not sure of. If you are unsure about how a product works or unsure of what a part of a product does you should ensure that you do not give wrong advice as that is going to completely throw the customer off. It is better that you put the call on hold, check up and find out the right answer.
9. Modulate your voice according to what you are saying:
Most often, customer service is provided over the phone so, it is important that you train your customer care employees to speak with not merely correct grammar but also with the correct intonation. The employee should be someone who is able to think on his or her feet and come up with quick solutions to problems as well. If he is too slow with answers then that is going to really irritate the customers and leave a terribly sour taste in their mouth.
10. Don’t forget to get customers feedback:
Once you have spoken to the customer and solved the problem then you should ask him or her to fill in a feedback paper where he and she could speak freely about what he thought about the customer care service that was provided. Give him or her time to fill up this form. If they are genuinely content they will rate you well.
11. Make use of the feedback which is given:
Finally, ensure that the company takes into account what customers are saying because customers are the backbone of any company. If they are happy then the company will become bigger and better as well as grow from strength to strength.
Conclusion :
So these are some of the things to be kept in mind if you wish to deliver top quality and excellent customer services. If the customers see that you genuinely make an effort to keep your customers happy and that they hear from you the moment they have a query or a doubt then automatically they will start having implicit trust in your brand.
They will even recommend your products to their friends and families. If you constantly ensure that everything about your business is absolutely top notch then nothing will come in between you and success. If you take things lightly then your company will surely fall apart before your eyes.
