Many businesses are so concerned with promoting their brand and getting customers through the door, that they forget to nurture the relationship with the customer when they bring them onboard. A fundamental and costly mistake for any business. Your customers are what makes or breaks your business, so it is important that you take care of them and provide them with the best possible service. These are some ways you can improve your customer service to help ensure you retain your customers and increase the likelihood of referrals.
Be professional
It is important to always ensure you are professional, whether on the phone, email, face-to-face or on social media. It can be quite difficult to do this, especially if you have an angry or annoying customer to deal with, however, this will help ensure your brand remains as positive as possible. If you retain your professionalism, no matter what the circumstances, you will have a better chance of keeping your customers.
Go the extra mile
If you go above and beyond the call of duty, your customers will thank you for it by staying with you. Going the extra mile is not only about responding to your customer’s needs but exceeding those needs by offering more than they were expecting.
Quick response
The best customer service is given by companies who respond quickly to customer queries. This could be on the telephone or via email, but this is vital to building a strong and lasting relationship with your customers. If you don’t have the resources for this, outsourced customer service can help improve your response times.
Listen
If you don’t listen to what your customers need, how can you expect to offer them a great service? Take time to listen carefully to what your customers are asking from you and you’ll be in a better position to be able to respond positively.
Reward loyalty
This is one aspect of customer service which many businesses completely forget to incorporate into their plans and it is an important one. If you have customers who use your service time and again or buy your products regularly, reward their loyalty. This may be as simple as offering them a discount or throwing in a freebie, but they will appreciate it and will be more willing to use your services again.
If you need help with getting your customer service on track, we can provide it through our telephone answering service or email response solutions. Get in touch to find out more.