When you’re in business you know exactly how competitive it can be. There are many ways you will need to stand out from the competition in order to make a name for yourself.
Most business owners try to stand out based on the type of product they offer and the quality, there is nothing wrong with that. However, one thing you need to master to put yourself a cut above the rest is your customer service.
With excellent customer service, you will pull people back to your business. Repeat customers are what makes a business level up every time. This is why you need to understand how to make your customer service second to none.
Here are some of the major things you should be mindful of to make this happen.
Understanding Why Customer Service Is Important
You probably have some idea as to why customer service is important for your business. When you’re talking about customer service it involves every ounce of communication between you and your customers.
This means that great quality customer service should begin before you even make a sale. If people come to your business for presale inquiries you should show them why they should follow through.
Once they follow through, your team should continue to show up and show out. Even after people have made a purchase you should provide them with great after-sales service, especially if you are selling a product that you know they will need to come back to buy again.
It cannot be emphasized enough that repeat customers are the heart and soul of most businesses.
The Customer Is King
You have to make sure that you make the customer king. If you look at the biggest e-commerce site in the world Amazon.com you can learn a lot about being completely customer-centric. In this business model, the customer is put on a pedestal and they feel it.
There’s no doubt in their mind that their needs and their wishes come first. Making your business laser-targeted towards pleasing the customer is a surefire way to make it grow and get repeat business.
The bottom line is that the customer must be satisfied. If every customer you have is giving rave reviews and feeling warm and fuzzy inside when they think of your brand name you’ve done a great job.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
The most important thing you need to provide for your customers is great communication. This cannot be said enough.
Chattiness is something customers like. They do not like a quiet business. They want to talk to you and they want you to talk to them, especially when it comes to delivery on orders.
Be sure that you have several different ways in which they can communicate with you. You can start with at least three methods.
Make sure that you have the standard telephone call, live chat if possible and email up and running.
The worst thing you can do as a business is to let your customer want to talk to you, especially about their order, and not be able to contact you. Prompt responses are needed. To put it in a superhero analogy, think of “the flash” when you’re dealing with customer service. The quicker you respond to your customers, the happier they will be.
Always make sure that you show empathy and are sympathetic to any concerns they may have. When customers feel that you’re connecting with them on an emotional level there is more apt to work with you to fix problems.
Anticipate Issues
One of the major things you should be doing is trying to anticipate all the customer issues that you could encounter. By making sure that you have a targeted plan for dealing with hiccups you can blow your customers out of the water and impress them with your excellent customer service.
Of course, to avoid missing the mark, you’re going to have to make sure that you train your staff. This is where you must get it right when it comes to quality customer service. Your staff has to know the ropes and they have to know it inside out.
Roll out all you’ve got when it comes to training your employees. As long as it will put them in their “A game” and get them on the ball when it comes to dealing with customers you should provide quality training for them.
It is these customer service representatives who are on the ground floor of your business and help to keep that smile on customers’ faces.
Personalize the Experience
It cannot be emphasized enough that you must give your customers a personal experience when it comes to customer service. This means that you should ask them their names and use them when you are referring to them and their case.
Interacting with them as though you are a sympathetic friend when they have problems or enthusiastically assisting them with what they need to find is a good way to encourage a great customer relationship. These gestures do not go unnoticed and people will go back and speak about your business, this is how you get repeat customers.
Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the key things that all the big brands try to tap into and even if your business is not that big, there are some things you can do to “wow” your customers and get their tongues wagging to others.
Stay In Touch
Whenever possible you should try to get to your customers on an email list. Remember that even though you may sell to your customers and get their email addresses, this doesn’t mean that they have opted in to email marketing.
You need to find some way to get them to opt in during store visits if possible, especially by way of a discount. This way you have the right to communicate with them because they have consented.
Use Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is usually a win-win when it comes to growing your business and enhancing your customer service. As long as you bring good affiliates on board who are equally dedicated to seeing your brand succeed, you’re likely to find a partnership that will grow your business and improve customer experience.
Your customers will often benefit from the targeted way in which your affiliates advertise their products to them. For example, if your affiliate uses a blog post to cater to the needs of the audience and gives them answers while suggesting your product it’s a win-win for both of you and the customer as well.
Your customer discovers your product in a way that enhances their lives, they connect with you and you finish off this wonderful customer service experience.
Remember though that in this situation you have to keep your affiliates happy as well. This is where you can use affiliate marketing tools such as payouts to make sure that your affiliates get to their commissions on time.
Reward Your Customer
One of the other things you should do is reward your customers regularly. Whenever you reward your customers you are giving them a trophy and letting them know that you respect their time and their choices.
Put your customers on a pedestal and give them rewards for sticking with you. Make sure that you are giving out loyalty points to them so that they can redeem them and get any amazing items they want to buy in your shop or store.
Have customer appreciation days where you fete and dine, your customers to thank them for being especially loyal to you.
Use Promotional Items
It’s hard to keep a smile off a customer’s face when you give them a freebie. A great freebie is one that your customer really and truly needs.
It’s something that they will talk about or show off when they leave your business after getting it. This promotional item should give your customers “The Gift of gab”.
In fact, you want your customers to talk about your business so much that their wagging tongue brings more and more customers to you because they have heard how awesome you are.
Maybe these people will want the same free gift as well. Be sure to have more to give out!
If something brings in business, makes your customers happy, and has the potential to bring in more new customers it’s a win-win situation for your business.
You have to harness the power of good customer service if you want to skyrocket your business into the stratosphere and beyond. Don’t be shy about trying new things that will make an emotional connection to your customer.
Once you grab them by the heart and get them invested in your brand there’s no letting go and you will win sales all day every day, so great customer service should be something you eat, sleep, and drink daily.
Your business will never struggle even when there are tough economic times, if you adopt these principles and stick to them all the time.
