Shhh... I Have a Secret
You can create a great customer service system for your business in 3 easy steps.
Customer service is a pretty hot topic and can make or break your business. Consumers have little patience for lousy customer service and quickly get tired of waiting in long lines, trying to get a live person on the line, going through an interrogation to return something, or trying to communicate through a language barrier.
If you provide them with a simple, efficient, pleasant experience, they will revisit your business over and over. More importantly, your clients will tell everyone they know!
There are three secrets to good customer service; the first one we’re going to conquer is knowing exactly what YOU want.
You are the captain of the ship and the visionary for your business’s future, so you need to have a clearly defined plan for your business, including customer service. There are three main goals you need to consider:
- Understand Your Road Blocks
- It needs to be easy for your customers to do business with you. You can do this with advertised discounts, kiosks, your website, and other technology-based programs to help them shop. No matter what medium you chose, make sure you understand all of the steps your asking your client to do. Then make sure you can make them as easy as possible.
- Your Experience Needs to be Like Talking with Mom
- Doing business with you needs to be a warm and pleasant experience. Your staff has to be knowledgeable, approachable, warm, and patient. Your customers need to feel like they are getting good value for their time and money. Perceived value goes beyond the price of the products and extends to their shopping experience.
- A Penny Wise a Dollar Foolish
- Change your mindset and ask yourself, “How can I NOT afford to do these things?” This shouldn’t be a question of expenses, but making and keep happy customers. It is always essential to think about customer lifetime value when dealing with complaints, refunds, replacements, etc. Think a penny today is a dollar tomorrow.
With these thoughts in mind, you also need to consider a few things when deciding on the actual programs and standards you’ll put into place.
- Share your customer service vision with the rest of your staff.
- Empower your staff to make decisions at the moment.
- Connect your incentive programs and bonuses directly to customer service.
- Monitor the level of customer service your staff is putting out.
- Set a time to review and improve your customer experience regularly.
- Know when you can ignore what your customers want.
- Continuously focus on your goals.
Now that you know what you want, you can start thinking about meeting those wants and creating a positive customer service experience.
If you’re having a hard time deciding on what you want, the tools, resources, and coaches in our GUIDED TOUR can help you define your company’s wants and needs in relation to customer service.
