Customer Service Lessons From The Frontline
5 Customer Service Lessons From The Frontline
Understanding customer service can be tricky, especially from an employee’s point of view. Most employees are focused on their jobs and their tasks, not what the customer may need or want. Putting yourself in their shoes may seem counterproductive, but this can be the first step to avoiding critical mistakes and losing clients due to poor customer service. Here are 5 customer service lessons from the frontline to help your company retain business and gain referrals.
Make It Easy For Customers To Find You
The first problem you should avoid is making it tough for customers to get to your products and services or your customer support. Having stores and websites is good, but making it easier should always be your goal. Place a large customer service number and chat line on your website where it is visible so your clients don’t have to go searching for it. Also, when people call into the customer service center, don’t expect them to wait through multiple robot voices and punch in a lot of numbers. Get them to a real person as soon as possible so they can start discussing their needs. If they do need to punch in a pin number or ID code, don’t ask for it again! They already gave it to you, and good customer service experts shouldn’t need it twice.
Peak Traffic
Will your servers be able to handle an influx of traffic from websites? Do you have enough employees to handle calls proficiently? Understand when the peak times are for your business and plan ahead to avoid problems and solve problems efficiently.
Be Efficient
Efficiency doesn’t fall on the heads of customers. It falls to the people running the company. You must be proficient and skilled enough to handle all problems as they arise or even before they happen. Train employees and managers on what to do and how to do it so they can be more productive. If they do not know the answer to a question, make sure that they connect the customer to someone who does. If this is not possible, make sure they write the question down and get the correct answer for the customer as soon as possible.
Treat Employees Well
Employees who aren’t happy with their jobs aren’t necessarily going to treat customers poorly, but they certainly won’t give them their best. Customer service doesn’t start with the client, but rather the managers and employees. Make sure your managers are helpful, motivating and encouraging so that your team works together to create the best customer experience for your clients.
Related Article: Starving For Recognition – How & Why Implementing An Employee Recognition Program Produces Amazing ROI
Surprise/Delight Them
Going above and beyond may seem impossible for a salesperson, but it shouldn’t. They should be able to offer promotional items, discounts and other options to get customers interested and hooked. If you’re not providing your staff with the ability to surprise and delight customers, they could be losing sales.
Take A Sneak Peek Into My Customer Service Excellence Workshop – Creating A Customer-Centric Culture
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