How to Improve Your Team’s Customer Service
One of the best things a business can do to improve its customer service is to add a call queuing function. Creating a queue lets customers know what place they’re in so they are aware of how long they have to wait. They can even be given the option of holding their spot in line and getting a call back when it’s their turn. This creates convenience on the customer’s side; they can go about their business without having to worry about whether they’ve lost their place.
Let us make it clear: technology is important here. But it’s not the ultimate determinant of the success of your customer support arm. Your service and product may be top-of-the-line, but having customer service that is easily forgotten is not going to make you last longer in the minds of your customer.
A company’s customer service team is at the forefront and represents the company. If they don’t have the skills to support customers when they need it, they’re going to continue to lose them. Continue reading to learn some of the best ways to take your customer service to the next level.
Why Bother With Customer Service?
Having great customer relationships is the result of having great customer service. Customers usually know what they want to buy within the first few seconds of walking through an establishment; they just need a little reassurance.
Believing that customers only hope to get great service will leave you out of business; they expect it. They want the red carpet, and their expectations are only going to continue to increase as more businesses continue to compete for their attention.
Many companies fail to provide a first-class service experience and get confused when customers go elsewhere. It’s no secret that they are even willing to pay more for a better experience, which can be as simple as having their questions answered quickly.
What Can You Do to Provide a Better Customer Experience?
Believe it or not, sometimes it’s not all about speed. Customers want the right answer as well. These two factors are some of the most important criteria when it comes to a customer’s experience. Therefore, you miss out on the benefits they bring by only providing one over the other.
The old ways of doing things are over. Customers no longer want to live chat with a robot, wait in line, or even fill out countless forms. They want the experience of talking to a real person who is going to understand their needs and treat them with importance.
Investing in great software is sure to help; it can cut minutes into seconds by having all the client’s information right at your disposal, enabling you to provide more as you talk to them in real time.
Here are other things you can try:
1. Reduce Stress for Both the Team and the Customer
Helping clients is not only stressful for the team, but it can be stressful for the clients as well. Clients want to change and often equate their future experience with the past, so be different. Having a team that is efficiently educated in the product and service can make a significant difference.
With all the stress that customer reps have to face, the majority are likely to quit within the first year of the job. The issues that cause this stress are usually easy fixes that can be solved with adequate training on the company’s end.
A major complaint that many teams are dealing with is the fact that they have a hard time accessing customer information. This is where having the right software comes in, and making sure that the team is properly trained in using it will greatly benefit your company.
2. Humanize Customer Interactions
Relating to customers can help to calm them down and help both sides in finding a solution. Finding common ground that both sides share can be a lifesaver as it builds rapport. Simply asking about their day and the weather can go a long way when talking to a stressful customer.
Customers want to feel heard, so practicing active listening skills can be another useful skill to implement. Empathizing and reflecting on what they just told you could help to show that you care. The biggest tip is to make sure that you ask to clarify if you don’t understand something.
Everybody makes mistakes. Customers choose to talk to live reps because they know that they will be understood better. That being said, don’t be afraid to admit your mistakes. This builds trust in the customer and allows you to take control of the situation.
3. Adapt to Your Customers
People are all different and require that you interact with them as such. Handling surprises well will show the customers that you’re not treating them like the rest. Everybody hates it when salespeople read straight from their prompt, no matter what is being said. Adapting does the opposite.
Learning is an important part of improving your customer service, and it should not be looked down upon. The thing that separates good teams from bad ones is the willingness to learn and continuous knowledge sharing. This is no different. Anticipating and adjusting are sure to put you ahead of the competition.
Difficulties are everywhere, and having a team that can manage them is helpful to the company, especially a team that knows how to prioritize tasks. The best way to do this is to start with the most important first to the least important one last.
4. Use Direct Communication
No one wants to play the guessing game, especially clients who are in a hurry. Making sure to be clear about what you’re saying to the customer is the best way to keep them satisfied and coming back for more. You don’t want to confuse 50% off with 50% more when it comes to customers.
As a business, you want to make sure that your team is constantly energetic when talking to clients. It may not seem like much on your side, but customers love it, and it may be the difference between a repeat customer and a one-time shopper.
It should be known that customers have different problems that might require a different solution for each of them. That being said, it is important to let them know if you are unable to solve their issue immediately. There’s nothing worse than lying about a promised timetable.
Letting them know that you may not be able to provide a solution right away shows them that you are actually acknowledging the situation and are actively trying to find a way to solve their problems. The response that’s given may sometimes be more helpful than the actual solution.
5. Hire Hardworking Reps
A rep who’s willing to work hard for the customer’s sake will keep the customer coming back for more. It is highly appreciated when a rep can deal with a problem from beginning to end. Even if the problem is not solved by them personally, it shows that they care.
In stating that, the ability to manage time wisely is a trait that all customer reps should have, even though many don’t. Not spending too much with one client while others are waiting for you shows that you can be focused while having the right balance.
No one wants to feel left out; this is especially true for customers when they start to feel that you’re favoring another over them. You may not think that they know, but they do. Losing one customer can potentially mean losing out on another one or even your entire business in the long run.
6. Seek Criticism
Some reps don’t believe that taking criticism from customers is beneficial. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Customers know what they want and will tell you when you ask them. On the other hand, getting advice and throwing it aside will never help your business.
Being able to accept negative criticism about your work and improve is something that good businesspeople have learned to do, and they welcome it! Negative comments can help to improve a business and potentially stop recurring issues that others may not have come up with.
Now, when it comes to having tough skin, reps need to understand that the majority of the time, it’s not them that the customers are talking about but the product or service. Once they understand that, they can then focus on making sure that the customer is kept happy.
Whether it’s now or later, customers are going to talk about you, and it’s better to learn to prepare and embrace that fact instead of trying to avoid it.
7. Find the Right Strategy
Customer service can be done through trial and error or through coming up with a strategy. The most successful businesses prefer to come up with a strategy and go from there. Coming up with common questions that are asked within the industry is a great way to start.
It may take some time but having employees who know how to interact with the customers based on the script prepared will bring in trusted clients. Creating a proactive service that’s designed to help put the customer first will ensure that they are happy during the process.
Knowing what your clients want is just half of the story; the next is using the right strategy to solve their problems. This can be done by trying different techniques and seeing which one works the best. Sometimes you may even find out that there are multiple correct strategies.
8. Create Forums
Forums can create a sense of community. This can allow clients to talk to each other and even work together to solve each other’s problems. You can bring customers from far and wide to discuss what you’ve been doing well as well as what you can improve on.
It is much better to create a forum than for someone else to do so. This way, you don’t have to worry about a third-party site taking over what is being said about your business. As we know, people will sometimes believe what they see online instead of looking for the truth themselves.
Forums allow your business to improve its brand relationship with potential clients as well as newcomers. You can even answer questions in those forums directly; this helps reassure customers that they are talking to real people instead of a chatbot.
9. Enable Feedback
After helping a customer, sending out surveys is the best way to find out what they think about your service. If they are in a hurry, you can even suggest emailing them so they can do it when they have time. The whole point is to make sure your customer service grows.
But this doesn’t just apply to customers. Your team’s involvement also matters. This will give you a view of the workplace that may not be available from the macro perspective. There’s no single way to do this right. But if you’re thinking about implementing anonymous feedback, just know that there are potential ramifications to it.
Conclusion
By being open and willing to learn, you will see that customers are often willing to share what made them come to your business and what you can do to improve it. Organizational skills show that you are not just all over the place and have a way of doing things.
Through our list, we hope that we’re able to help you improve customer interactions and, ultimately, customer service.