How to Improve Customer Service: 9 Simple Methods
Did you know that, by making just one customer happy, it could potentially lead to as many as nine referrals for your business?
It’s why customer service is so important for you and your company. If you treat your customers well and show them the respect they deserve, they’re more likely to tell their family and friends about you. That will, in turn, result in your business growing larger and larger over time.
If you’re not making customer service a big priority right now, you should learn how to improve customer service and start doing it right away.
Here are 9 simple methods to improve customer service quickly.
1. Make Sure Your Employees Understand Your Products and/or Services
One of the simplest ways to improve your company’s customer service is by taking a step back and making sure your employees know all there is to know about your products and services.
That might mean setting aside some time to train your employees on how your products and services work. It might also mean bringing in more qualified employees who specialise in certain areas.
As a customer, there’s nothing worse than calling a company and asking for help with a product or service only to find that the person on the other side of the phone doesn’t know exactly what they’re talking about. So make sure your employees have a good understanding of your products and services as you move forward.
2. Set Up a Live Answering Service for Your Customers
When customers call a company, the last thing they want to hear is a recording. They want to speak with a live person who can guide them through the issues they might be having.
If you have a large company, you should set up an entire customer service department that is devoted to helping customers who call you up with a problem.
If you have a small company, you should hire a live answering service that can serve as your de facto customer service department and take care of customer questions and complaints.
Either way, you want to let your customers know that their business is important to you. Nothing will show that better than good customer service.
3. Greet Your Customers Warmly When They Contact You for Help
Regardless of whether you choose to set up a customer service department or hire a live answering service, you should get into the habit of greeting customers warmly when they contact you.
That means you should:
- Say hello with a smile
- Be as friendly as you can be
- Ask a person their name and use it early and often
- Say please and thank you
- Avoid raising your voice or showing any anger or frustration
A good first impression will go a long way during an interaction with a customer. Show your customers that you care, and they’ll respond well to it.
4. Listen Carefully to What Your Customers Have to Say to You
You’re not going to be able to solve your customers’ problems if you don’t have a good understanding of what those problems are.
To find out, you should spend the first minute or two that you spend communicating with them listening to what they have to say.
Some customers might be upset and communicating loudly. Others might be confused about where to start and zig-zagging all over the place while explaining their issue.
Whatever the case, let the customer talk and get through what they have to say before you jump in and start speaking to them. They’ll feel like you’re taking their comments seriously when you allow them to talk.
5. Work on Coming Up With Solutions for Your Customers’ Problems
When a customer takes the time to call on a company with a question or complain, it’s because they want a solution. Your job is to find that solution for them.
In some cases, you’ll be able to find the solution in just a few seconds. You can answer a simple question quickly and send them on their way.
In other cases, you might have to spend 15 or 30 minutes asking the customer questions to get to the bottom of the situation. You might also have to speak with a manager or extend a courtesy to a customer to make things right.
Whatever you do, do not tell a customer that there is no way you can help them. You should do whatever you can to make them feel like their issue is resolved when they hang up with you.
6. Always Treat Your Customers Respectfully When Speaking With Them
There are going to be times when customers do not treat customer service representatives with respect. They might even raise their voices at a manager or the owner of a company.
If you ever find yourself on the wrong end of a customer’s tirade, take a breath and continue to treat them with respect, even if they’re not reciprocating that respect back to you.
7. Avoid Blaming Your Customers for Any Problems That Should Arise
The saying might be “The customer is always right,” but that isn’t always the case! There will be times when the customer you’re speaking with is clearly in the wrong and asking for too much from you.
But even when that turns out to be the case, you aren’t going to be providing quality customer service if you simply tell them they’re wrong and then tell them to have a nice day.
Rather than blaming customers for a problem, you should still work with them to find a solution. Many times, these are the customers who will appreciate your customer service the most.
They’ll be surprised to hear you working so hard on their behalf and will be more likely to patronise your business moving forward because of it.
8. Ask Your Customers to Provide You With Feedback
At the end of every communication with a customer, you should find a way to get that customer to provide you with feedback.
You can do this by:
- Asking them to stay on the line for a survey
- Emailing them a survey they can fill out later
- Telling them they can take a survey on your website about your customer service
By gathering information about your customer service directly from your customers, you can learn how to improve customer service on your own. You’ll have all the data you need to make small changes to your customer service approach.
9. Put the Feedback You Receive From Customers to Good Use
Once you get the feedback you desire from your customers regarding your customer service, use it!
You should constantly be working to improve your customer service so that you’re making customers happy. If they’re complaining about one specific aspect of your service, work to make it better for them.
Find Out How to Improve Customer Service and Start Doing It Now
Once you know how to improve customer service, you should start making changes immediately.
You should also continue to seek feedback from your customers and ask your customer service representatives how they think they could be making improvements as a whole.
At the end of the day, you want to provide the best customer service experience possible. That should be your goal at all times.
Check out our blog to find out more about improving customer service.