Have you analysed your customer service practices recently? No? Perhaps you don’t think you have the time or the energy to do more with customer services in your business?
It’s not enough these days to have an outstanding product or service; if someone is unhappy or can’t reach you with a question, they will be quick to share their less than stellar experience with you on social media or online review sites. More often than not, these few bad reviews are what people notice over the hundreds of good reviews.
If you want to develop a reputation for being the Harrods of customer service, here are three tips that will ramp up your reputation:
- Be Responsive
Frustration will set in quickly for customers who can’t get a quick answer to their questions. Have a process in place for answering emails or phone calls quickly and how to handle weekend inquiries. If you have specific office hours, make them public on your website, have them listed in your email signature, and certainly mention those hours on your phone voice message.
If you find you’re getting overwhelmed with all the responding you’re doing, or you no longer have time to think about your businesses primary focus then get a VA to help you. With the right tools your VA can be responsive for you.
- Be Friendly
Follow the old saying of, “Kill ‘em with kindness.” You can never go wrong with being friendly and patient, even if your customer is yelling or rude. Very often when they hear that they can’t rattle you, their temperament will calm down. The same is true for rude or unhappy emails. This is where having canned responses can help because then you can just copy and paste the response without being tempted to answer in a rude tone, even if it feels justified.
If you find yourself responding to the same queries day in, day out, then you need to revisit your processes to make sure that the common issues are now addresses or get in a Virtual Assistant to do this. It’s time and money well spent.
- Listen (and Read) Carefully
People want to be heard and they want quick results. If your customer explains their problem, they want you to respond with an appropriate response, not with the standard canned response that doesn’t apply to them. For instance, if they say to you they’ve already tried turning it off and then turning it on again to solve the problem, don’t suggest to them to try this. The same is true for emails. Canned email responses are great ONLY if they address the actual problem. Sometimes there will be an issue that requires a thoughtful and considered response.
If you don’t know how to deal with the customer service issue, then ask your VA for suggestions. VAs are often fonts of knowledge, brimming with things they’ve learned as they work. Just ask.
Be the Ultimate in Customer Service: Hire a Qualified Team
Entrepreneurs certainly know their own products and services inside and out but handling customer service calls can be time consuming and emotionally draining. Hiring even one customer service assistant allows you to delegate that task so you can be more productive on the things you love most. Also, as an Entrepreneur, it can be emotionally difficult to hear people unhappy with your products or services, so allowing someone else to deal with those calls won’t bruise your confidence, and will allow you to consentrate on growing your busy!
