Customer Service

When was the last time you visited a coffee shop? The first thing that probably comes to your mind is the customer service that you have received. You are probably thinking how much time you waited, how polite the barista was and how the staff responded when you had that little extra request. 

This scenario helps us understand the significant role that customer service plays in the shaping the customer’s experience and expectations. That’s why we have put together 5 key areas that will help you deliver excellent customer service.

1. Be fast 

We live in a fast-paced era in which people are constantly rushing to places. Nobody wants to spend 30 minutes in a supermarket queue, 3 days waiting for his car to be fixed, or a month to have his online order delivered. When it comes to customer service, speed is the most important skill you need to have. Here is how you can improve it: 

• Identify all customer touchpoints and improve interactions. 
• Implement a monthly training program for your employees to educate them on how they can work efficiently and effectively. 
• If applicable to your nature of business, prioritize customer inquiries and cases according to their significance. Urgent requests should be dealt with first.
• Introduce automation in some areas of your business (if available). 

2. Know your customer

Within a highly standardized business world, a touch of personalization can really give you that extra push to attain that competitive advantage. Twitching a few key areas of your business will feed emotional, long-term customer relationships. These are some examples of how you can achieve this: 

• Remember the names of your customers
• Personalize your offering according to your customer’s needs and wants 
• Go the extra mile to deliver your customer’s requests, even if it’s something not on the regular ‘menu’
• Feed a friendly discussion and show interest to your customer’s thoughts and concerns. 

3. Always remember to smile

This is very often overlooked. The key takeaway here is not that you need to smile 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. This is a reminder that polite and friendly customer service is valued much more than you would think. Make sure you serve your clients with the utmost respect and the greatest smile. After all, who likes to be serviced by a moody, impolite person? 

4. Acknowledge your mistakes and fix them 

The truth is that nobody is perfect. The challenge here is not about preventing all mistakes from happening, but about addressing mistakes promptly and resolving them without any implications and without any unhappy customers. So if you have made a mistake, be honest about it, address it quickly and move on. It’s all about being transparent, honest and genuine. 

5. Set Customer Service as one of your priorities

Considering everything said above, customer service is undeniably one area you need to pay close attention to. This is the core of your business. Be sure that 
investing in customer service will yield several intangible and tangible benefits in your business, ranging from increased sales performance to improved employee morale.