A solid customer service culture is at the heart of every profitable business. This is unsurprising considering how your customers are the sole reason as to why your business is able to grow and thrive! However, there are countless companies out there that (unknowingly) fall short when it comes to being there for their customers. This is often because they are so focused on finding new ones that they tend to forget about the ones they already have!
Here is a list of four of the most common customer service mistakes and how to rectify them going forward.
Neglecting to Adequately Train Your Staff
Many business owners believe that customer service is something that comes naturally to an individual who considers themselves to be a ‘people person’. However, that is rarely true. It is about more than just flashing a friendly smile or possessing above-average communication skills. Customer service agents need to understand the various challenges that customers might face and be prepared to help them navigate their way through them.
They should also be trained in the art of placating an angry customer, not only in terms of calming them down, but in effectively retaining their loyalty, too.
Some managers find it beneficial to provide customer service training that places agents in specific scenarios that they are likely to encounter at some point or another. Let the hypothetical scenarios play out and then help to guide your agents to improve their approach based on how they handle them initially.
Not Investing in the Right Technology
Technology can streamline your company’s customer service approach significantly. You should investigate the various options available to you in terms of call center software, specifically, as this is often where customer service falls short. Good quality call center software should provide you with a host of business-boosting features, such as automatic dialer and call distribution, call monitoring, interactive voice response (IVR), CRM integration, and reporting and analytics.
There are many benefits to investing in software for enhancing customer service, such as call center software. For example, you will not only see a drastic improvement in customer service overall, but you will also notice optimized agent productivity and improved efficiency, enhanced scalability for your business, better reporting, and improved CRM strategy analysis.
Arguing with the Customer
It is imperative that you train your customer service agents to avoid arguing with a customer regardless of the situation. As the old saying goes, ‘the customer is always right’. This is not because they are actually always right, but because you need to play along in order to effectively hold onto them as customers! Remember, it is not your agents’ job to teach them how to think more logically or how to be kinder individuals, it is their job to make doubly certain that the business continues to thrive. Ultimately, that means retaining as many customers as possible.
Not Being Available
These days, consumers expect businesses to adopt an ‘always-on’ approach when it comes to dealing with customer feedback. As such, it is essential that you make it easy for customers to contact you. This includes making it simple for them to get hold of your contact details, as well as ensuring that you are there to provide them with a quick, informative response. Once again, call center software can help with this.
Ultimately, you absolutely cannot go wrong by paying extra attention to keeping your customers content and satisfied. Make an effort to implement the aforementioned advice and you are certain to enjoy a sizeable business boost in the near future.
