Customer Service: Essential to the Success of Your Business

Customer Service is basically the way you interact with your client before, during and after a sale is executed or a service is rendered.

In this age of computers and internet a lot of innovations are happening that make life easier. However, with these innovations client services have become impersonal and most of the time scripted.

In business, the customer is king still holds true; no matter how far-fetched or unrealistic some of their demands may be. Everybody knows that for a business to thrive a loyal customer base must be nurtured and managed – customers who are willing to do repeat transactions with the company. Each satisfied customer expands the business exponentially. For behind every single happy client lies 10 more potential customers.

Any strong marketing support that a company provides for its products and services will still fall short of its objective if customer service is non-existent or lousy at best.

So how is customer service defined?

A customer service is considered good when the service comes with a smile. It is going beyond the perceived value of the product or service. It is far from the overly mechanical customer service scripts that we all have become accustomed to.

It is the need for human interaction in every encounter with a customer and their issues and problems done in a satisfactory manner.

In this modern world of technology where everything is viewed as borderless and seamless, assigning a generic department to handle customer service issues is an outdated practice.

Company managers are already aware that clients deal with employees in different levels of the organization. Each individual represents the company. Should any untoward incident happen involving the interaction between a company employee and a client, there is high probability that unwanted detrimental information about the company will be disseminated by the aggrieved customer. The solution to this problem to prevent negative publicity is to have a well-trained team on good customer service and rules of engagement with the clients.

The internet also introduced a new approach to customer satisfaction. A web marketing company relies on a sort of self-service style or approach in managing customer’s needs. A visitor to their website, upon purchase of products or services online, will more likely transact again with the company if he sees that everything he needs can be had with a click of the mouse. The user friendliness of the site from having easy access to its support staff to filing a complaint or returning a product makes for a great customer experience.

Marketing support is an integral part in bringing in the initial money to the company. The only thing that will keep in the profits, in the end, is rendering good customer service.

Categories: customer service Tips  |   Tags: Business, Customer, Essential, Service, Success  |  1 Comment »

Why Is Good Customer Service Essential And Who Is Responsible For It?

Tempers flare and voices rise, but does your good customer service vanish? These are just a part of your day-to-day life in the market place in any business establishment. Customers and consumers are becoming more and more demanding. They get angry and argumentative when they are not served well by whoever is assigned to entertain them. Big and impersonal companies are sometimes finding it difficult to entertain such difficult-to-please customers and offer them good customer service. But for those small companies who have the skill to be more subjective to customers, I say they have found one of the keys to make their businesses a success.

How many times have we heard about a customer service attendant with a sour disposition entertaining the customers? And how many times have this happened to you personally? This does happen. But it shouldn’t! I was at a Western Union office recently and was waiting to get my money when I happen to hear the customer service attendant yelling at a customer to fill up a card before waiting in line to get his money. Good customer service? Not a hope! Now is that a good way to deal with the customers? Now, there are a lot of Western Union outlets scattered across the country, and with that kind of attitude, which customer would have the heart to go back!? Another example is a McDonald’s drive-thru attendant with a negative temperament. Which customer is really going to return to that outlet if they are greeted with an unpleasant, unhappy face? OK… maybe that’s a bad example – but you get my point!

Businesses have to understand that good customer service is what brings the consumers and customers back. Customer service isn’t just a job! It is a sport in the business world that entrepreneurs and employees have to master in order to attract more customers. It is a key element to win over customers and attain success over the competition. A good customer service system obtains more customers through word-of-mouth advertising. Let’s look at it this way. Take the example of the Western Union outlet. The customer the customer service attendant shouted at walked away angry and cantankerous, telling his peers or family members not to do business with that establishment again! And all because of one lousy employee with a sour disposition who didn’t know how to smile once in a while! Can you think of the money that this particular business lost because of one employee? However, if the customer service attendant was pleasant and easy to get along with, the customer would then have walked away thinking how nice it would be to do business with that outlet again. Word of mouth advertising tells people more than anything else that the service was good and the staff there were pleasant. The outlet would then have attracted more customers and more money by simply giving good customer service!

Here is the trick that the companies should apply to their businesses… They should not think that their products alone carry their business to fame. Not at-all. It is the front-line employees who the customers deal with first before they are introduced to the product. They are the ones who deal with the customers personally, and no customer or consumer would want to deal with a negative customer service. If they train well their customer service department, it might mean surpassing customer expectations and might mean more customers. Mastering this skill also means a bigger market share. But who wants just a part of it? Why not win them all? Why not get the majority or most of the market share through not only good but great customer service? A satisfied customer keeps coming back. And sooner or later, your excellent customer service will pay off and you will see it through your income.

Categories: customer service Tips  |   Tags: Customer, Essential, Good, Responsible, Service  |  Comments Off