In any business, customer service is key to customer acquisition. When customers are happy, they’re more likely to come back and recommend your business to others. Good customer service can also help keep your customers loyal in the face of competition. In fact, 96% of consumers base their loyalty on a business’s customer service.
At Satellite Industries, we know that providing remarkable customer service is essential to business success. In this article, we will explain what customer service entails, its importance, and four tips to help your business deliver remarkable customer service and keep customers coming back for more.
What Is Customer Service?
Customer service refers to the kind of experience your customers have when they interact with your company. It’s more than just handing over an order or allowing someone to buy something—it’s the whole process that makes up how you treat your customer, including what they experience before and after they buy from you.
Why Is Customer Service Important?
Customer service is important because:
- It affects the success of your business. If a customer has a good experience, they are more likely to return and buy from you again.
- It can also be a deciding factor for someone who is unsure about which product they want to purchase. Even if your products are better priced than your competitors’, they may still choose not to buy from you if their service experience is bad.
- It can affect your reputation, which isn’t something you want to find yourself needing to fix, so focus on exceptional customer service from the start.
4 Tips for Remarkable Customer Service
How you interact with customers will go a long way toward determining their satisfaction with your business. These four tips will help you provide remarkable customer service in 2022.
1. Be Accessible
One of the most important things you can do to provide remarkable customer service is to be accessible. This means being available to your customers when they need you.
Make sure all your contact information, including your phone number and email address, is displayed prominently on your website or business card, so there is no confusion. Also, make sure someone is available to answer the phone if a customer calls during business hours.
If you have trouble responding to inquiries in a timely way, try setting a company standard for getting back in touch with any inbound leads. This way, if a customer or potential customer misses you, you have an automatic plan for reaching out.
2. Be Attentive
Another key to providing remarkable customer service is being attentive to your customers’ needs. When a customer contacts you, make sure that you give them your full attention.
Do not multitask while you are talking to them. Make sure that you take the time to listen to what customers say and ask. Ask questions to make sure you understand them fully and answer their questions as completely as possible.
3. Be Understanding
When customers are upset with you, it can be easy to become defensive or irritated. However, your response is incredibly important because it will affect how the customer feels about you and your company afterward. Here are some tips for handling upset or difficult clients.
- Take the time to listen and understand.
- If you can show them that you understand why they may be upset and apologize for it, they will respect you more and feel like you care about their concerns.
- If a customer becomes impatient or interrupts you while talking to them, take the time needed to fully address their concerns.
- Do not let yourself become defensive or upset.
- It’s also helpful to give the customer the option of contacting you directly again if there are any further questions or concerns.
While some customers may just be having a bad day or they are just rude, do not take their behavior personally.
4. Be Responsive
The final tip for providing remarkable customer service is to be responsive. When a customer contacts you, make sure that you respond to them quickly and thoroughly. If possible, try to respond within an hour or less if they contact you via phone or email. It will show your customers that you care about their time and put them first.
How To Improve Customer Service in Your Business
1. Create a Plan
To find out what types of problems your customer service team faces, you need to create a plan. You can do this by conducting interviews with customers or calling your company’s hotline. These are good ways to find out exactly what the customer experience is like when interacting with your business.
It’s also very wise to spend time with any customer service representatives within your company. Whether it’s a route driver, an office administrator, or anyone else – you need to communicate and listen to anyone in your organization who interacts with customers on a regular basis.
2. Write It Down
Once you know the problems, you need to write them down to help you track the progress of your customer care team and make sure they are addressing the right issues.
Find a way to create a visual chart of customer issues. This way you can see common themes in any areas of improvement. Whether it’s sticky notes on the office wall or a computer program, write it all down.
3. Train Employees
Your customer service team should be properly trained to handle different types of situations, including proper etiquette and how to solve problems.
If you don’t have a training program, there are plenty of online options that you could use in your own practice.
For a great list of training ideas and resources, click here!
4. Provide Resources
Make sure your customer service team members have the resources they need to do their job. Here are the basics, but this is just the tip of the iceberg:
- A customer contact list and/or database of customer information
- A primary contact list for key members of your organization (mechanics, drivers, service technicians, managers, etc.)
- Specific information about your products or services
- A list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – this resource ‘can’ take some time to gather, but it’s incredibly valuable
5. Evaluate Progress
It’s essential to evaluate the progress of your customer care team so you can see how they are doing and where they need improvement. You can do this by conducting surveys or interviews with customers who have interacted with your customer service team.
Then, follow up with each member of your team. Try to create a full view of the customer service experience, from all sides.
Takeaway
Good customer service is essential for any business. By following the tips above, you can ensure that your customers have a good experience interacting with your company.
If you need help improving your customer service team, Satellite Industries will be happy to help. For years, we have provided various companies with portable restrooms, portable hand washing stations, portable restroom accessories, restroom trailers, and trucks to accommodate customers and employees.
If you’d like to know more about what we can do for your business, contact us today.