No matter your industry, quality customer service has become a major differentiating factor for businesses. If your customer service team is not up to snuff, your company will be haemorrhaging revenue. To be honest, quality customer service is not complicated.
Essentially, your customers need to embrace these mantras:
★ Be humble
★ Be helpful
★ Be friendly
★ Be knowledgeable
★ Be thoughtful
★ Be useful
★ Be timely
★ Every customer-facing employee is a part of the customer service
★ Ask for the Review!
Your HR and Executive team are responsible for bringing the right people on board.
They’re also accountable for training, supporting, educating and informing their staff. In this article, we’re going to reverse-engineer some great reviews in order to illuminate 9 hacks that will impress your customers, have them returning to your business in droves, and influence them to drive new business your way via word-of-mouth and 5-star online reviews.
1. Be Humble and Don’t Make Your Customers Feel Dumb
Many of your customers come to your business with a complete lack of knowledge. Sure, they may have done research on their own, but they expect your employees to be the expert.
When your support team has been on board for a while, and they hear the same simple questions day in and out, a glazed-over eye roll is understandable. But the true gems of the customer service world take those FAQs and explain them in a way that doesn’t make the customer feel like a child.
That humility and respect will go a long way in the eyes of your customer, especially if they already are insecure about working with your business.
2. Be Helpful Instead of Pitching the Sale
Honestly, while we try to have a sense of how our audience finds us and ultimately become customers, the buyer’s journey is never the same for different people. As a business owner, you need to respect that a potential customer might think they’re ready, but after consulting with you, realize they haven’t considered a variety of components that might inform their decision.
Even if they have this realization early in their interactions with your team, it’s essential to be as helpful and transparent as possible. People appreciate when customer service reps don’t lay on the hard sell from the get-go.
If your prospect isn’t ready, and you don’t pressure them prematurely, they will return to you when the time is right.
3. Be Friendly and Surprise Your Customers
Some businesses benefit from making their customers feel like family. When your business model includes routine checkups or frequent repeat customers, get to know them!
I always appreciate when the baristas at my local coffee shop greet me by name or already know my normal drink.
Taking the time to ask your customers about their lives (in a non-invasive way) will help them feel like family when they’re at your store.
4. Be Knowledgeable and Educate Your Employees
If you’re working in an industry where the stakes for your prospective customers are high (like law), and they’re considerably undereducated on the matter, your expertise on the subject is essential.
Not only being able to empathize with your client but also educating them on their problem will set you apart from the competition.
Sometimes, the potential client will have attempted to research their situation on their own (WebMD set off any alarms?) and come to you thinking that they’re knowledgeable on the subject.
It’s important in these scenarios to know your field inside and out with evidence that you can turn to so you can reveal why the prospect came to you in the first place.
5. Be Thoughtful and Solve Problems
Mistakes happen.
You’ll never see a business without a negative review because no matter how informed your customer service team and leadership are, the unexpected happens, and it’s your responsibility to be able to handle the curveballs they’re thrown.
While it’s important to have policies in place to protect the bottom line, having managers or customer service reps who can make exceptions to save a bad customer experience is paramount.
A satisfied customer will sing your praises when you turn a bad experience around in a timely fashion and offer (what the customer considers) a fair solution.
6. Be Useful – Have Vetted Recommended Vendors
Whether you’re an events planner, a home services provider, a hotel, or any local business, knowing the local businesses that surround your location can vaunt you as a dependable and valuable asset to your customers.
When you’re able to recommend complementary vendors to your clients, you’ll save them time and money. Make sure that you vet the companies that you recommend.
The last thing you want is to send one of your customers to an unorganized and incompetent business. That’s an easy way to make your customers hate you.
Good vendor recommendation builds trust with your clients.
7. Be timely – Even at Inconvenient Times
Sometimes, your free advice alone can earn a positive review!
Conclusion
Being a friendly, helpful, problem solver can sometimes be more important than the actual service or product you sell!
And always remember, EVERY employee that interacts with customers needs to have the same mindset, training, and support as your dedicated customer service representative.
Employ these hacks and your positive reviews will explode.
To get access to our case studies, and the final two very important hacks, download our eBook on the topic by clicking here. You’ll also receive access to our pro tips.
