These days, customers have more options than ever and feel less loyalty, presenting both an opportunity and a risk to businesses. It means that good customer service can give the edge over competitors, but news of bad service is likely to be more damaging and travel fast. Dissatisfied customers still complain to their friends, it’s just now the ‘friends’ might be the thousands of people who read about it on their blog.
In simple terms, good customer service can be described as: doing what you say you will, when you say you will, how you say you will, at the price you promised.
Following are some key principles of good customer service:
1. Attracting new customers costs more than retaining existing ones.
A satisfied customer stays with a company longer and spends more.
2. People expect good customer service everywhere.
People become frustrated when their expectations are not met, and increasingly demand higher service quality in more areas of their lives.
3. Research and understand your customers’ needs and meet them.
‘Customer listening’ can be done in many ways, for example feedback forms, mystery shopping, and satisfaction surveys.
4. Be honest to your customers.
Don’t make promises to customers unless you know you can deliver on them.
5. Know everything there is to know.
Dealing with customer enquiries requires knowledge of the business, inside out.
6. Customer service must be consistent.
Customers expect consistent quality of customer service; with a similar, familiar look and feel whenever and however they contact the company.
7. Employees are customers, too.
The same effort should be made in attracting, motivating and retaining employees as is made for customers.
8. Open all communication channels.
Don’t be elusive. The customer wants to contact you in many ways – face to face, by mail, phone, fax, and email - and will expect all of these communication channels to be open and easily inter-mingled.
9. Every customer contact is a chance to shine.
Resolving a complaint swiftly could enhance ’ the customer’s perception of the company.
10. Fix it first, brag later.
If you have a bad reputation for customer service, put your money, time, and commitment where your mouth is before you start bragging about what you’re going to do to improve it.
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