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Ways to Deliver Compelling Customer Service

Author: Nikki Barnett   Date Posted:27 April 2020 

Who Provides Customer Service In Your Business?

 

Is customer service seen as only one department’s job in your firm? If you want to retain clients, that needs to change! Customer service matters in all departments, even if they’re not customer-facing. That’s why operations and marketing have to work together to ensure your company is offering top-notch comprehensive customer experience.

 

In their 2006 book ‘Return on Customer’, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers identified that for a business to be successful, the customer experience is the deciding factor. Far more important than what you say you will deliver is what customers feel about the service they receive from you.

 

Delivering a unique customer experience demands a comprehensive approach, an approach that looks at more than delivering the brand promise. Keeping your customers loyal, that is, a customer who not only uses your services but is an advocate for them, is essential to success in today’s competitive world.

 

You must keep updated on all aspects of technology. Provide your staff with the tech tools they need to deliver prompt, efficient and friendly responses to your customers; no more outdated interfaces, no ignoring the value of social media.

 

Have a vision

 

You cannot improve your customer’s experience without having your teams on board. Customer loyalty is gained when all the interactions with your company are positive. That includes your website, sales catalogue or shop, to the product and any after service or follow-up. How you deal with complaints and praise is also vitally important.

 

You need to ensure that you make an emotional connection with customers and employees. Make your company stand out from the rest by showing it understands what customers want.

 

Don’t try to complicate things; keep it simple and intuitive, easy to understand. Show commitment to meet both your employees and customer expectations.

 

You then have to bring you vision to life, make it real for employees and customers. Let’s explore some of the ways you can do that.

 

Resolve the problem

 

Train your staff not to avoid a problem or pass the buck to someone else. A customer will know when that is happening and get very frustrated with this process. It gives over a message that you do not value their time and that it’s too much trouble to deal with their problem. Your staff need to take personal responsibility for the customer or client, and work through issues with them rather than avoid them. Institute a way of recognising when a member of staff does well, encouraging others to work the same way.

 

Invest in improving your customer service

 

This can be as simple as extra training for staff or a little more costly such as a loyalty programme. People have a desire to be loyal, recognise this and encourage it. The point of rewarding customer loyalty is to encourage them to repeat their behaviour, bringing you more business. You can do this in several ways:

 

• You can celebrate a customer. Highlight a customer who has promoted or supported your business in the past week or month. Put on social media, your website or in your regular newsletter or email.

• People enjoy recognition for things they have done and seeing this encourages other customers to support you.

• Another way to reward customers is to offer them a service not open to the general public - like how Google lets customers be Beta testers. This is an activity that builds trust and loyalty among your customers or clients.

• Invite feedback; people appreciate being asked their opinion. Use questionnaires or surveys and be sure you tell them they are selected as a loyal customer.

• A loyalty program is also a great incentive to keep customers happy. Incentives can vary but think outside the box. Like, instead of a gift card include personalised gifts or a gift basket, vouchers and discounts.

• If you do not think your business is ready for a loyalty programme, there is no reason you cannot give customer thank you gifts. A lovely gift hamper with a handwritten note is a perfect gift. A gesture that will stick in the mind of your client or customer, making it a very positive impression. A little note here to remind you our hampers come beautifully presented and include a free gold embossed card for you to personalise the gift. An added advantage for you is delivery is free throughout Australia.

• Hold a special event and invite customers to have the first view of a new product or range. Make it a little more select with personalised invitations, maybe even make it a charity event for the local community - a way for you to highlight your commitment to them and their community which will also encourage loyalty.

 

Acknowledge social media influence

 

Do not neglect the power of social media. As with most competitive businesses, using social media for marketing is pretty much the norm. But, you need to focus also on what is being said about your business on there. You need to respond, with courtesy to both negative and positive comments. Thank those who have nice things to say and respond rapidly to any negative comment or feedback, constructively and helpfully.

 

Ignoring social media requests is not a good idea, sends a message that you don’t care, not the impression you want to give out. Remember, others are looking at how you do or don’t respond. There is very much a ripple effect caused by not answering requests and comment, that you can only negate by carefully monitoring your social media and responding appropriately.

 

Add a personal touch

 

• Always say thank you to your customers and clients.

• Listen to feedback and take action.

• Keep explanations simple and clear - you are not speaking with an expert cut out the jargon.

• Hire and train the right people - take the time to find the staff to invest in - ones who have the social, emotional and psychological skills to really listen and handle the queries. Product and business knowledge can be taught!

• Go beyond meeting customers expectations, thats how you get your positive hashtags that promote your brand.

• Don’t make promises you cannot keep, either to your employees or customers. Keep what you say to people and in your marketing honest. It means a lot!

 

If you want to go above and beyond for your customers, you can't go wrong with a gourmet Corporate Hamper. Browse our range online or download the Bulk Order Form today.