September 2016
Keeping People Happy: 4 Key Aspects of Great Customer Service
No matter your company’s industry or size, it’s important to remember that the customer sits at the heart of your organisation’s operations. As we’ve seen in recent months and years, keeping customers happy has become all the more challenging with the event of social media – a platform where the critics can out-shout the fans, and some brands mistakenly find themselves shouting back. Of course that means ensuring your customer service is top-notch has never been more valuable in the race to the top – and taking these four key aspects on board can help you get there in no time.
1. Talk Their Language
No, we don’t mean trying to be ‘down with the kids’ when addressing a younger audience. Unless you have a youthful brand and the expertise to pull it off, that can end rather embarrassingly! Instead, focus on how your customers want to talk to you. Are they trying to ask questions or offer feedback on social media? Or do they prefer email correspondence to a telephone call? Would they find text message alerts sent from your bespoke CRM useful? Finding out this information early on and adapting to it can help you to become fluent in understanding your customers and their needs.
2. Listen and Respond
The number one rule of customer service is that the customer is king. You may argue here that it’s ‘the customer is always right’, but there are occasions where this is difficult to reconcile with protecting your team’s welfare and interests, so we’ll stick to the customer being royalty. As such – and because they’re the best critic you’ll ever have – it’s important to acknowledge what they have to say and adjust your service where required to match that feedback. Your customers are an invaluable source of information – treat them as such!
3. Keep Up to Date
No matter which side of the fence we’ve been on, each and every one of us has encountered at least one infuriating customer call where information hasn’t been passed on, or the customer previously spoke to a different individual and there’s no record. The result is a complicated mess which makes the whole experience underwhelming for the customer. Ensure your team are sharing data about customers using a Cloud-based CRM to keep them all up to date about each customer – it not only makes each phone call run much smoother, but it ensures everyone gets to put the phone down with a smile on their face.
4. Be Patient, Be Kind
This point is particularly poignant to anyone who is anxious or angry themselves when getting in touch with customer services. For those who don’t fully understand what they’re doing – including whether or not they’ve called the right number – it’s important to be helpful and point them in the right direction. Customers who phone up because they’ve had a negative experience should be dealt with using the greatest of patience in order to protect the relationship and resolve the issue.
At Lunar CRM, helping businesses to keep their customers happy is what we do best! By employing a bespoke CRM built around your organisation, you can empower your teams to do more for your customers. To find out more and book a free demo, get in touch – we’d be happy to talk!