Some Tips for Giving Excellent Customer Service
With the costs of goods and services constantly on the rise, customers need something more to help them separate you from the competition. One of the weapons you have at your disposal is customer service. When you work on developing excellent customer service, you not only give your customers something to remember you by, but you also collect information that will help your business in the future.
Good customer service consists of:
- Professional and trained customer service associates to answer the phones
- Real solutions for each client
- Asking the client for his opinion
- Having customer service available for clients around the clock
- Giving your customer service associates a feeling of empowerment to solve customer issues
You can empower customer service employees by giving them the authority to solve customer issues quickly and efficiently. For example, by giving your customer service associates the authority to take back product up to $1,000, you are allowing your customer service professionals to make decisions quickly. That makes the customer feel better and it also helps the customer service professional to feel that his job has value.
One of the most important elements in delivering great customer service is having a computer system that you can use to track and collect data. When a customer calls in with a product issue, your customer service professional should check to see if that customer has called in for help in the past. The customer management software will have the customer’s name, the history of the issues the customer has had and the solutions that the customer has found to be agreeable.
With this kind of information, the customer service associate can solve the customer’s problem in a way that will make the customer happy. The customer service management software will also capture the product issue and submit it to manufacturing to improve product quality.
Another helpful aspect of good customer service is encouraging clients to call in with suggestions on how to improve your products. Since your customers are the people that keep your business profitable, it makes sense to take their suggestions seriously. The suggestions made for product improvement by clients can be used to help create new products, or to develop upgrades for existing products. These suggestions can also help the company understand when the useable life cycle of a product is coming to an end.
Good customer service means listening to clients and utilizing the information you get to create a better company. When you develop a staff of professionals designated to solve customer issues, you will create a loyal customer base that is willing to work with your company on any product problems. A good customer service department is critical in retaining existing clients and for making sure that your current clients refer new business your way. Invest in hiring, training and administering a good customer service staff so that you will always have that one thing that separates you from the competition. Good customer service is not only a competitive edge, it is also the way in which you grow your company and prepareyour organization for future challenges.