Your life is going to be all about customer service when you get into business. This is because, of course, customers are the only reason that you’re in business to begin with. So, imagine the idea revolving around the care of those valuable customers. You want to make sure that it is as good as possible, right? Well, here are the 10 commandments to make sure that it happens just as you want it to.
- Listen to your customer: When a customer registers a complaint or asks a question, make sure that you listen genuinely to the customer, take down the right information and be genuine in listening to all they’re saying. Your customer will be offended and frustrated if s/he thinks that you aren’t giving him/her your full attention. Don’t skimp on this step because it also speaks to your professionalism as a business, too.
- Take their needs seriously: If they have some follow up services or need help in registering a comment, etc, make sure that you take them and their needs seriously. Give them the support that they need to be able to see that you care about them and the needs that you have right now. They have to see that they are important to you.
- Follow up on a solution: If you are able to find a solution to the problem or have another way to deal with the issue that the customer has, share it with the customer. Make sure it doesn’t get put on the back burner. Take the question or comment as seriously as possible always show the customer that s/he matters through actually following up on the issue. When it slip through the cracks, the world is going to get to the point where the end will be coming your way.
- Make sure they know their importance: The last thing you want is for your customer to feel important as you talk to your employees while an unserved customer is sitting there and waiting, so make sure that your customers your top priority when you are dealing with them. Same thing goes for when you are on the phone: make sure that you don’t keep them on hold too long. If you need to, check in on them as often as possible to show that they are important. They will appreciate it and you will feel as though you are doing everything in your power to get it work for you.
- Apologize: When there is a situation where something has gone wrong, apologize genuinely for the mistake. Help your customer see that you care that they were inconvenienced and that you’d like to help them find a way to make up for it. This will go a long way to making them see that you are interested in helping them and that you see them as a person. Pride has no place in business and the reality is that the customer is always right.
- Try to give customers more than they want: Make sure that you go above and beyond the customer in terms of your attitude. No matter how rude they are, you stay professional and polite and act as respectful and helpful as you can. Remember that it’s as much about seeing that you tried as anything else.
- Encourage feedback: Customer service is about giving the best possible experience and learning where you can improve your skills, so make sure that you always encourages feedback from your customers. Regardless as to whether it’s good or bad feedback, you can learn from both and improve your experience for the future.
- Take care of your employees: For the most part, your employees are the ones that are going to be working with your customers, so make sure that they are well-trained and are going to be focusing on the idea of putting your customers first, too. Give your employees proper treatment and remember that they are the ones who will be taking care of the customers, so they must be in the right situation for their skills.
- Respond and follow up on issues as soon as possible: You have to show your customer their importance by getting the ball rolling and make sure that you don’t wait too long to get back to them with an update. If that isn’t possible (it happens at times), you should look a something like Sky contacts numbers. This is a superior customer service aid that will offer both new and returning customers the dedication that they need, and it’ll work seamlessly along side the rest of your business as you’d want them to. It could be the solution to improving your relationship with your customers.
- Don’t talk down to them: It’s easy to want to get angry or degrading with customers, especially if they are rude to you, but you have to remember that this is unprofessional. Yes, it’s hard, but keeping the conversation and interactions positive and professional is going to be you responsibility especially in the bad situations with bitter customers.
Customer care and customer relations take a lot of work and they can often create a whole world of problems, but you need to remember that the responsibility of achieving all of the different successes in business will come to customer care at the end of them. Taking proper care of your customers in all of their forms is the best way to guarantee that your business is going to be a success.
It only takes one ignored customer to drive away business, so do everything in your power to make sure that you are going to be able to stay on top of the situation. It’s hard to get it right all of the time, we’re all human, but with the power training and the right tools to give you a boost you’ll be able to make your way to success faster than that you thought possible.