If your business is customer-facing, then investing time and money in your customer services department should be a given. This essential component of your business should be an area that you continually review. Looking for ways to improve the interactions with your customers is fundamental in the growth of your business.
It is vital to understand what good customer service looks like. Answering phones and emails or carrying out customer requests is only a fraction of your duty to your customers. You need to be proactive in your approach to service and do everything that you can to allow your customers to feel fully confident with your business.
Word of mouth is a powerful thing. And with the reach of social media, maintaining great customer relations is crucial. Good reviews have less potency than negative ones, particularly if they get shared around.
Ensure Your Phone Service Is Up to Date (and Up to Speed)
You need to be able to answer your customer’s calls immediately. Nobody wants to be waiting in a queue for long periods of time. When this happens, customers can get frustrated and anxious. By the time they get through to you, they will be more likely to become argumentative.
Investing in the right amount of employees to meet demand is fundamental. You can also supplement your team with automated answering services that will allow customers to handle basic tasks themselves, or get answers to simple questions.
Investing in your phone infrastructure is essential too. Hire a company such as www.jabbercomm.com to provide network cabling across your business.
Use an Intuitive Ticketing System
Where your team needs to follow up on customer queries or requests, having a ticketing system will help you prioritize the workload. But queuing systems are not always as intuitive as they need to be.
Finding the right system takes time and research, and it is important that you do not invest in such a system until you are certain you have the right one. It can be costly and timeconsuming to implement and integrate ticketing systems, so getting it right first time should be your aim.
Continually Invest in Team Training
Your team needs to be trained on how to deliver excellent customer service. Don’t make the mistake of just carrying out initial training during an induction period. Have your best coaches regularly shadow your team and provide training and support.
By revisiting training on a regular basis, you will keep the concepts fresh in the minds of your team while ensuring that they are motivated.
Motivate Your Customer Service Team
Creating incentives that are based on customer service reviews rather than sales targets is a great way to motivate your team. Often, businesses focus on pushing their teams to convert or sell more. This does not always equate to great service. In fact, this can very often lead to mis-selling, and aggressive tactics. By putting the focus on customer experience, you are shifting your values to being people-centric over profits.
