Customer service can make or break your business.
‘Customer service’ is the process of providing comfort and ease to your clients. ‘Sale’ deals with selling of goods or a service. They are two different departments, yet are they interweaved with each other. One directly impacts the other. The outcome of a business depends on how well their customer service is.
Damon John, a successful American businessman, spoke with Forbes about the importance of customer service.
He reckoned that nothing is more significant than customer service. Moreover, he said that over-delivering in service to a customer is by far the most valuable thing. He reasoned that there are only two ways to improve the operations of a business: increase sales or decrease costs. In today’s environment, decreasing costs is hard. As far as increasing sales, doing it via customer service is highly effective.
In the recent years, people have enormous expectations from brands. They want comfort and ease at any cost. The consumers are willing to spend more for the same product if the service is better.
Let us look at some reasons why customer service is essential.
Dissatisfied customers will never come back
With expectations rising, so is the competition. Every single brand, large or small, is trying their best to provide better service. Surveys are revealing that a comfortable buying experience helps in developing loyal customers.
Moreover, corporations don’t have the choice to ignore customer service with so many competitors out there. If a person is unhappy with the service, he or she to take the business somewhere else as there are countless choices. By upsetting that customer, you hand over a significant lead to another competitor.
You cannot hide from their eyes
The digital age usher transparency. Social media dominates today’s world where information can quickly be quickly spread. Feedback on the brands can now be easily posted and accessed through the internet. Such has pinned down the corporations that exercise bad practices and is calling for them to change. Negative responses online can completely ruin the business. After all, bad news travels fast. An effective way to deal with this is to provide better service from the get-go.
Now that we looked the reasons. Below are some tactics that employ outstanding customer service to increase sales.
- The first impression is the last impression :
In our daily life, the first interaction we have with people often sets the tone of the relationship. It gives us a glimpse at who they are and whether or not you find them interesting. Of course, it doesn’t mean everything but that glimpse we get serves as an important gesture for us to decide; to invest in the relationship or not. That is the same in the case of customer service, if not more so. It is imperative to show the potential purchasers that your company and its representatives are reliable and trustworthy. Your staff should be polite and helpful.
- Customers as advocates :
If you want to increase your sale drastically, then instead of trying to bring in new clients, work on old ones. It is proved to be more beneficial. When a customer is happy with the customer service, they will likely purchase again. They become your permanent clients. Your happy customer is likely to promote you to friends. This way they will be helping you many potential clients and that too free. It is a win-win situation for brands. This point clearly shows how outstanding customer service is. Customer care is directly proportional to an increase in sales.
- Surprise them :
One way to surprise your customer is to give them handwritten notes. Write a personalized letter that mentions their names. The clients appreciate this gesture. It makes them feel valued out of all other clients. Do not send notes to clients when they are expecting it like on occasions. Do it when they least expect anything. Taking them by surprise is bound to make their heart flutter. If handwritten notes are not your thing, try discount coups or gifts. They work the same magic.
- Employ tactics to shorten your response time :
Nobody likes to wait when he or she could be using that time for something else.
The one thing customers hate the most is to wait forever to solve an issue. Be it while billing, or if they have any doubts about the product. You need to employ tactics that deal with problems quickly. Quick responses lead to greater satisfaction and higher sales.
- Get to know the customer :
Humans trust what they are familiar. Generally, they will choose options that they feel familiar with because they can believe them. Therefore, it is imperative to create this trust between you and the customer. Familiarize with your consumer and make their relations with the brand more personal.
- Customer service staff :
Customer service staff operates a massive role in that regard. Teach them to try to remember customers and call them by names whenever appropriate. Such an act is likely to affect the customer subconsciously and make them trust your brand more. It will create a bond between your company and the buyers.
- Acknowledge your defects :
Nothing is perfect, and it is true, while that sounds very idealistic. Even if you do everything in right order, there will be things your customers will complain about or give suggestions to improve. You have to treat that feedback with the utmost respect and try to adjust based on those suggestions. If they are to notice that you are listening to their feedback, then they feel they have a voice heard and cared.
The technology has advanced immensely that have reduced the workload. RosponseAI is a stupendous software that utilizes the intelligence of AI for Market Research. Customer service is the most crucial part of business nowadays. It is imperative to provide reasonable assistance for your business to operate. The size of your business doesn’t matter. Companies are thriving to improve it, finding ways to make the process easier; all in an attempt to alleviate their customer to be loyal. Indeed, loyal customers are the type of customers that every business desire. These kinds of consumers are providing a much more sustainable source of income to the business of all kinds.