Customer service is integral to your company’s success. Satisfied customers and repeat business are the lifeblood of most companies. Studies show that it can cost six times more to attract a new customer then to keep an existing one, and the best advertising you can get is positive word-of-mouth from happy customers.
Start the new year right by ensuring that you are following the ten most important rules of customer service. These are the keys to service success, repeat business, and happy customers.
1. Convenience: Make it easy for customers to do business with you.
The shopping and buying experience should be as pleasant, simple and uncomplicated as possible. Confusing procedures, hard-to-find products, excessive paperwork, and other inconveniences don’t encourage customer loyalty.
2. Courtesy: Remember your manners.
Every time you interact with a customer – whether it’s in person, on the phone, via e-mail or other channels – you leave an impression. Be polite! Greet them warmly and professionally, ask how you can help, thank them for their business, and wish them a good day. There is no excuse for rude service.
3. Competence: Know what you’re doing.
Few things are more frustrating for customers than salespeople or service representatives who are clueless. Good training and solid understanding of your company’s products, systems, and policies are critical for all customer-facing employees and their supervisors.
4. Caring: Show customers you are concerned about them.
Much of what customers need is actually emotional, not practical, support. They aren’t just looking for product specs; they are looking for an experience and a purchase that makes them feel good. They don’t just need a solution to their problem; they need to feel like someone cares about what they are experiencing. Make sure your customers feel important, individual, appreciated, and cared for.
5. Consideration: Resolve issues completely and quickly.
Provide prompt service and quick resolution to problems. Customer issues must be handled with a sense of urgency. Customers have their own lives and agendas, and wasting time waiting on you is not high on their list of priorities. When customer complaints are resolved immediately, most customers will return again.
6. Concentration: Give each individual customer your attention, and listen to what they are saying.
A distracted, uninterested air does not create satisfied customers; neither does acting on assumptions or on incomplete information. Favor the customer with your undivided attention, and concentrate for the moment on nothing but the customer’s needs. Really listen to what the customer says. Ask questions. Pay close attention to the answers. No only will this help the customer feel welcome and understood, his is critical to providing good customer service – you can’t fulfill the customer’s needs if you don’t truly understand what those are.
7. Compassion: Have empathy for the customer’s feelings.
When interacting with customers, try to understand their feelings and perspective. Acknowledge their emotions and get involved on their behalf. Customers will be relieved and pleased to have someone “on their side.” Practicing empathy and compassion will help you to gain customers’ trust, build rapport, demonstrate caring, and better understand their problem and how to solve it.
8. Communication: Tell the customer what is happening.
When interacting with customers, good communication is critical. Let them know what you can do to help, what is being done, and when they can expect a resolution. Keep them updated on progress, tell them when something changes, and help them to understand your systems and processes to reduce frustration.
9. Cooperation: Treat the customer as a good guy.
The customer isn't always right, but your job is not to argue with the customer – it’s to provide good service and maintain customer loyalty. Find a way to say “yes,” find a way to help, and focus on solving the problem, not proving them wrong. If the customer needs an apology, give them one, whether you feel it’s warranted or not. Don’t assume the customer is lying or out to get something for free – give them the benefit of the doubt. It's actually to your advantage to hear them out and try to help.
10. Commitment: Follow through on your promises.
Always, always, always do what you say you will. Do more, if you can. Don't make promises you can't keep, and do your best to follow through on the promises you do make. If you are ever unable to deliver as promised, apologize and offer compensation. Always strive to exceed customer expectations.
Baker Communications offers leading edge Customer Service Training solutions that will help you address the goals and achieve the solutions addressed in this article. For more information about how your organization can achieve immediate and lasting behavior change that will increase customer loyalty and boost customer retention, click here.
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