Customer Service
Businesses that practice exceptional customer service achieve strong customer and brand loyalty that translates into higher sales and revenue. Those that develop a poor reputation for customer service usually aren’t around very long.
Customer service is best described as a set of behaviors and communications. We usually think of customer service as practiced by a store staff toward its customers. In fact, the principals apply to all forms of communication.
FAQs
Here is an outline of basic customer service behaviors:
o Acknowledge and welcome the customer
o Determine the needs of the customer
o Offer options
o Ask if there is more you can do
o Ask if the customer is satisfied
o Thank the customer
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you are communicating with customers:
o Common language - Communicating with and satisfying the customer can be difficult even when all parties speak the same language. Those difficulties are compounded when the language and culture are different. If there is no one in your organization who shares your customers' language, you can try drawing pictures, using sign language or showing products that may fit the needs.
o Listening - Be a good listener by concentrating on the speaker, using good eye contact, avoiding interruption, understanding the speaker's frame of reference, noting non-verbal cues, being alert to emotional content, taking notes and providing feedback. Restate the speaker's message as you understand it and ask for clarification or confirmation.
o Avoid slang and jargon
o Enhance communication by showing and demonstrating your product or service
o Promote two-way communication by asking for your customer's response
o Provide a sense of closure by asking the customer if you can provide an additional service, asking them if they are satisfied, closing them, thanking them and saying goodbye.
Here are a few suggestions that will help you deal with an angry or dissatisfied customer:
o Take personal ownership of the problem or quickly identify and secure someone who can
o Apply active listening skills
o Apologize
o Empathize
o Identify the problem
o Identify points of agreement
o Determine the desired solution
o Provide solution options
o If you can't satisfy the customer tell them, explain why, and let them know what you can do
o Ask if you can provide additional service and if the customer is satisfied
o Exceed expections
The key to developing long-term loyalty is to understand why customers stop doing business with you. A few of these reasons are out of your control. For instance, 1 percent die and 3 percent move away. You have control over the remaining 96 percent:
o 68 percent are upset with the treatment they received
o 14 percent are dissatisfied with the product or service
o 9 percent go to a competitor
o 5 percent seek alternatives or develop other relationships
Customer loyalty is key to a successful business. Remember that it typically costs five times as much to develop a new customer as it does to retain an existing customer.
Here is a list of common customer service problems and their solutions:
o Uncaring employees - Caring about people you don't know does not occur in a vacuum. An organizational culture of caring must exist.
o Poor employee training - You must provide training about the products and services offered, and about what good customer service means and how to achieve it.
o Differences in perception between what businesses think customers want and what customers actually want. Successful businesses are constantly polling their customers and adjusting their product and service mix to meet customer demands.
o Differences in perception between the way businesses think customers want to be treated and the way customers actually want to be or are treated. Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.
o No customer service philosophy within the company. Clearly articulate your vision of good customer service. Then back it up with training, standards, policies, expectations and rewards.
o Employees are not empowered to provide good service, take responsibility and make decisions that will lead to customer satisfaction. The best companies delegate responsibility and authority.
o Poor "internal" customer service - In order to foster a culture of customer service, you must treat your employees with the same consideration as you would a valued customer.
Start by answering the phone with a smile. The customer will hear it in your voice. Minimize hold time, be accurate with transfers and use positive language. For instance, rather than saying "I can't approve that you must talk to my manager," say "My manager can approve that. I'll arrange it immediately."
Published May 22, 2006
Exceptional Customer Service: Tips for Customer Service
by Eric Garner
Your aim in giving your customers exceptional service is to make them say "Wow!" as soon as you disappear. You can do that if you make the following 7 tips part of your normal pattern of service.
1. Give Your Customers Plenty of Strokes. People love to be stroked. Just like domestic pets, we like it when we are fussed at, smiled at, and given gentle touches. Strokes can include any greeting, the use of people's names, and good wishes of the "Have-a-nice-day" kind. But the best stroke you can give others is your undivided attention.
2. Surprise Them With The Unexpected. British Airways airline discovered that passenger goodwill increases when staff do unexpected extras such as spontaneous conversations or invitations to visit the flight deck. These have to remain extras and not the norm if they are to retain their surprise value.
3. Attend To The Little Things. Paying attention to the little things which don't significantly affect the main service is a way of saying: "If we look after the little things, just think what we'll do with the big ones." Such detail includes sparkling washrooms that you could eat your meals from and customer notices that don't talk down to people.
4. Anticipate Customers' Needs. In a survey of airport check-in staff, customers rated the best staff as those who anticipated their needs. These were staff who would routinely glance down the queue and anticipate the different needs customers had, from the grandmother needing help with her luggage to the business executive wanting a quick service.
5. Always Say "Yes". Great customer carers never turn down a request for help. Even if they can't do it themselves, they'll know someone who can and put you onto them. They always use positive language. Even if the answer is "No, we're closed", it's expressed as "Yes, we can do that first thing tomorrow for you."
6. Treat Them The Same By Treating Them Differently. We hate to see others get better customer service than we do, for example in a restaurant. It makes us feel second-class and devalued. Equally, we don't want to be treated the same as everyone else if that means a standard, soulless response, as you sometimes get in a fast-food restaurant. The secret is to treat everyone the same by treating them differently.
7. Use Tact With Tact. Tact means using adroitness in handling other people's feelings. In awkward or embarrassing moments, tact saves everyone's blushes. It's something your customers will notice but that you should aim to go unnoticed.
Practise these 7 responses until they are as familiar to you as breathing, and you are guaranteed to have customers queueing up for your attention.
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