Excellent customer service is the main pillar of competitive advantage within any industry. You can lower the prices of your goods and services in order to attract more customers. You can also use several promotion strategies to increase the volume of your sales. However, none of these strategies has the ability to retain customers in the long run. They will go away once the promotion period is over unless you have put in place an excellent level of customer service. Therefore, the long-term sustainability of your enterprise fully lies in the kind of customer service you offer to your clients.
Here are some golden rules for excellent customer service:
First, you should always be willing to take an extra step while attending to clients. For example, when a customer asks for the location of a given product within your store, don’t simply tell him or her to go to the third floor. Instead, lead the client up to the place where the item is located before going on with your chores. You should be willing to take any extra step that can enhance your level of service delivery. This additional effort not only retains customers but also makes them to refer their friends to the enterprise.You should guide your employees to be always well informed, polite and supportive to all customers.
Another golden rule for excellent customer service is to always answer your phone calls. This shows that you are available for your customers. You should never leave your phone unattended to especially during business hours. Callers expect to speak to a human being and not simply a phony recorded robot. Another instance could be when the entrepreneur has delayed working on the order of a customer due to one reason or another. Not picking the phone calls of such clients shows that you are dishonest. It is better to pick the phone calls and explain to the customer what happened and then strike a new deadline. A phone call can be used to create confidence of customers in the service provider.
Next, you should be willing to handle any criticism that comes from your customers. It is important to have customer surveys that can assist you to get feedback. You should use any complains you receive from customers to enhance your levels of service delivery. It is also important to set up a webpage to collect customer reviews. Any negative review you receive is not a sign of failure but rather an opportunity for improvement.
Another golden rule is that you should not guarantee your customers anything unless you are 100% sure. All excellent working relationships are built on trust and cheating destroys such relations. One of the things that irritate customers the most are unfulfilled promises. Therefore, you should think before you make any promises to the customer. It is better to inform the customer that you are trying and will get to him or her once ready instead of commiting yourself. Finally, we cannot finish the list of golden rules for excellent customer service without looking at the attention given to customers. As your customer speaks, you can show that you are keen with what he or she is saying by giving appropriate responses. Never attend to other things as you listen to the customer because it may negatively affect your reputation.
You should implement these rules to your whole organization, that way all your emplyees will understand the importance of customer service. This mostly refers to employees in direct contact with customers, like employees in contact centre departments.