Customer service is essential when it comes to your business. When you started your business career, you will have found that it is extremely difficult to manage all of those little aspects, but you’re doing great so far. The fact that your business is still alive and well is a testament to how well you’re doing, as over 90% of businesses fail within their first year. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t make some improvements.
For example, you might not be seeing the kind of results that you were hoping for, and if this is the case then something has got to change. We recommend taking a look at your customer service, as this is likely where some of the problem is coming from. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at how you can take your customer service up a notch in your business, so keep reading if you would like to find out more.
The first thing that you should be doing is training all of your employees. We all know how important it is for everyone to be up to a minimum standard when it comes to their job, and this includes customer service as well. There are some business owners that don’t take the time to train their customer service representatives, but this is a huge mistake. By doing this, you are setting that standard, and showing them what needs to be done if they want to keep their job with you.
Training not only sets the standard, but it also ensures that those who are perhaps a little behind some of the others, get the help that they need to be able to offer the best to your customers. At the end of the day, being able to offer a fantastic service is all that really matters, and courses help people do this. Ideally, you should be sending everyone on the basic course, and then everyone should attend an updated version when necessary.
Another thing that you can do to improve your customer service is offer the fastest delivery. When people order from your business, they don't really want to wait. Of course, some of them are going to have to and there’s nothing that can be done about this, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. You can even offer same day delivery if you are able, with some companies having found ways to do this in some cases.
The best thing that you can do when it comes to delivery is give your customers options. Give them a couple of times when you’re going to be able to have their package delivered such as different days from the date of order. It’s even better if you can manage to choose a courier that will give your customer information such as delivery time slots of about an hour, just so they can make sure they are in to collect it. This makes everything more convenient for the customer, which is what you’re trying to do here.
When someone gets in touch with your business with an issue, customer service representatives should be able to come up with a solution. Of course, there are going to be times where that seems impossible, or there are going to be times where they are going to need to speak to a manager as a general customer service agent doesn’t have authority to authorise what they want etc. But, the majority of the time, your customer service employee should be able to handle and fix as many issues as possible.
They should be focusing on the fact that they should be trying to problem solve by any means necessary. There are some customer service agents out there that sound bored, or uninterested when you talk to them, and this is a huge no no. It creates even more problems than you had before, and isn’t going to be easily fixed, potentially losing you customers. This should not be happening, as your employee should be engaged, and interested in coming up with the best solution for your customer.
Have you ever thought about offering a different language when it comes to customer services? We understand that this can be quite the pain for some people, but it is also a really good way to include more people. Don’t forget that not everyone’s first language is English, or the native language of the company that you work for. As such, the best thing that you can do to make as many people as possible comfortable is to offer at least one other language. Of course, you can’t cater to everyone here by offering all of the languages under the sun, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t try.
To do this, you’re going to have to advertise for people who can speak multiple languages. They will then be specially used for customers who need help but would prefer to speak a different language. We promise you that it’s going to set you apart from the competition to do this, boost your business reputation and generally improve your customer service.
Web chat is something that a lot of businesses use at the moment, but if you’re not one of them then this needs to change as soon as possible. This is going to be especially important if you are backlogged with emails so far you can’t even find the bottom, and if your wait times on the phone are massive. Nobody wants to wait 3-5 business days for a reply to an email, and nobody wants to hang around on the phone for over an hour, waiting for a business to sort out the problem that they are having.
You can purchase the software online from a reputable company, and start using it as soon as possible. You’re going to need to hire more staff to cover the demand here, but if it’s there then it’s going to be worth it. You will find that web chat makes life a lot easier for both your customers and your team. Customers will feel more at ease as a lot of people don’t like talking on the phone these days, and it gives your team more time to think of a professional and helpful reply when responding.
Listening to customer feedback is the number one way that you can improve your customer service. When you ask for feedback at the end of a phone call or any kind of conversation, you need to actually be paying attention to what is said. We understand that a lot of businesses don’t do this, but you have got to if you want to keep your business alive.
We’re not saying that you have to try and action every single piece of feedback that you are given because this is impossible as well as it is impractical. But, when there are things cropping up multiple times, that’s a sure fire sign that something needs fixing as soon as possible. An example of this would be if people keep commenting on a certain part of your business process, or a policy that they can’t get behind. Consider what they are saying, and then do something about it if you can.
We’re sure that you have heard this phrase before, but you and your employees all need to remember that the customer is always right. Even when they are wrong, they are right. We know it’s annoying and frustrating, especially when you’ve got customers who phone you and think that they know everything, but you just have to deal with it as it comes. They are always going to be right, and you need to do what you can to fix the problem that they are calling you with, even if it’s difficult.
The problem is that if you tell them that they are wrong and they don’t listen, they have the ability to go online and trash your business reputation by talking bad about you. Obviously this is not an ideal situation, and something that you need to avoid as much as possible. Remember to stay calm, and everything will be fine in the end.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you should be doing to step your customer service up a notch in your business. As you can see, there are so many things that you can do, so there is never any excuse for you not adding something when things aren’t going so well. Now that you know what you can do though, we hope that you see some improvements sooner rather than later! We wish you the very best of luck, and encourage you to consider each thing on this list if you’re not seeing the results that you have been hoping for.
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