Here is Why Customer Service is Ground Zero For Success

• Posted by GAFM AFRICA January 26, 2018 - Filed in Business - #  ##marketing  - 979 views

  “The only right way to run a company -- and the most profitable way -- is to saturate your company with the voice of the customer,” wrote Richard C. Whiteley, in his groundbreaking business classic The Customer Driven Company. As one of the most sought after speakers in the field of customer service, Whiteley couldn’t have put it more accurately or succinctly.

  Today, great customer service is not only good business strategy; it is the biggest and most important difference between successful and mediocre companies. Failure to respond to the voice of the customer only serves to increase their frustration, ultimately leading to the downfall of a product, brand or business.

  So can businesses take a customer-first approach and consistently exceed their needs and expectations? The answer is yes. And here’s how to go about it.

   

  Hire motivated employees.

  It is essential to hire employees with not only the right skills but also the right attitude. When hiring, especially for customer service, find out if the candidate has the innate impulse to help others and the ability to express genuine empathy.

  Create real-life customer support scenarios, including crises, to evaluate how candidates respond to it. Bear in mind that their reactions might vary wildly, depending on your products, services or industry. A positive attitude and alignment with your core values, as well as empathy and a genuine desire to help are strong factors to look for in a potential employee.

   

  Train and empower your support teams.

  Once you’ve put together an A-team of the most suitable candidates, train them to live the core values of the company. Make them use your products so you’re sure they understand them inside out. A truly empowered support team is one that is consistently successful. True empowerment comes when the team is given the flexibility to resolve a customer’s issue in any way possible. While it may work around your guidelines to achieve customer satisfaction, it may not work around your values.

  Deputize every employee a customer support agent.

  In his book The Amazement Revolution, Shep Hyken asserts that customer service shouldn’t be just a department, it needs to be a philosophy that drives everything that goes on within an organization. All employees, including those not directly interacting with the customers, need to do their jobs well in order to support those who support the customer.

  Equate happy employees with happy customers.

  Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies and author of Employees First, Customers Second, claims that executives and managers aren’t even on the list of important people.

  Employee happiness and customer satisfaction are interdependent. Great customer service can only come from happy employees who work in an environment that is fun and conducive to personal growth

  Say so, if you don’t know.

  Train your customer service team to resolve a problem as creatively as possible, but if they aren’t sure about something, allow them to tell that honestly to the customer. The rep can always get a second pair of eyes to take a look, or escalate the issue higher in order to find a resolution.

  Be omni-channel ready.

  Today's companies know the ins and outs of multichannel marketing, but it’s easy to forget that customers might attempt to seek to solve a problem on several different channels, too. In fact, they’re more active and liable to try out many touch-points. You need to be fully prepared to answer questions via phone, live chat, social media, email, or a help section on your website or app.

  Keep in touch with frequent follow ups.

  A timely email or phone call after a sale or the resolution of a service issue will drive home the message that the company cares about customer satisfaction. This fosters loyalty.

  Regular follow-ups can also help gauge customers’ perceptions of your brand and get valuable feedback: Pleased customers aren’t usually as keen as annoyed ones on talking to (or about) you.