How to Be a Business Person, Not a Business Robot: The Importance of Customer Service
Terrible customer service stories – everybody has one. Whether they involve haggling with shady salespeople or navigating through convoluted call centers, these experiences show one thing in common – a lack of respect for the customer’s needs. This can be the kiss of death for budding entrepreneurs interested in building their clientele, which is why many of the most successful businesses – both large and small – work hard to prevent their customers from feeling like talking wallets. Perhaps you are starting a new business or are trying to grow one during these uncertain economic times. It pays, then, to learn what other companies are doing to make their customers happy or miserable. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), for instance, ranks U.S. companies according to feedback from thousands of customers, making it a great place to begin.
(Source: smallbizdiamonds.com)
Make Being on Hold a Better Experience for Your Customers
When you are calling the customer service line of a company and you are put on hold, you will likely take a deeply frustrated sigh and sit back for the inevitable wait while listening to terrible music and meaningless cheesy messages.The truth is that no one enjoys being placed on hold. All you need to do is ask a simple customer service question and you have to wait on the phone for what feels like ages. You can’t call back because you will lose your place in the queue, but you feel like you are being ignored and that the company doesn’t care about you. You will also get very fed up with the message that “your call is important to us” repeated over and over again along with the stale and boring music repeating on a loop. Since being on hold is such an annoying experience at so many other companies, if you can improve the experience for your customers when they call your business you will stand out above the rest.
Customer Service and Social Media - What You Need to Know
Social media has made it possible for businesses to directly connect with their target audience and customers on a constant basis. Because of the ease of communication, your business will get a lot of valuable feedback from fans that you might not have otherwise. More people will speak up, and some of those people will have customer service requests for you. Here are some things you need to consider when it comes to customer service and social media.
Speed
When your customers contact you via social media with customer service-related issues, it’s because it’s easy and because they want a quick response. If they don’t get a speedy reply they might feel ignored. When you have more than one customer service issue to attend to, this doesn’t mean you always have to prioritize social media requests. You should, however, always respond as soon as possible if only to let the customer know that you’ve seen their post or received their message and are working on it.
Saying “No” to customers can help a small business grow
Domino’s Pizza recently announced the launch of its advertising campaign that will tell customers “No!” if they ask to add or remove toppings from its signature artisan pizzas. The purpose of the the new ad campaign is to position Domino’s as a leading authority for pizza. The company has spent years ”perfecting the balance on our artisan crust toppings,” states the voice-over in the advertisement. This is a bold campaign but is it smart? Should Domino’s or any business really tell customers no? Absolutely! Small business owners should be prepared to turn down customers if their requests are not strategically aligned with their overall business goals and objectives.
