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.