We feel good when our customers are delighted. With several companies coming in with similar kind of products and service, it sometimes becomes difficult for them to mark a distinctive place. One surest way of making a niche is to offer excellent customer service, right? Sure it is. Only if we understand well what constitutes excellent customer service and where do we draw a line. There are other ways to deal with the negative customer sentiments than to go overboard in trying to delight them.
Many companies swear that over-the-top efforts would win the hearts of the customers, and place them in the league of �best customer-service-companies�. The fact is sometimes but the opposite. Many-a-times, customers flinch by the �customer-service calls� that they are propounded with. They may not quite like the idea of receiving an IVR call often, asking them on how did they like the recent conversation with their sales representative. All customers really want is a simple and quick solution to their problem.
This by no means conveys that we can be reluctant to offer newest and smartest ways of customer support and stop delighting them. Just ensure that those ways head to the ultimate goal: handling customers queries efficiently. According to a recent study, consumers are clear in what they need: on-time and quality customer support. For instance, if a mobile manufacturer is able to give proper feedback on when would their cell-phone be ready after repair, they feel delighted. The incessant verification calls that generally last for 3-4 minutes regarding how they rate their customer support desk and the improvements they suggest might make little difference. On the contrary, the busy lifestyle of consumers may have little acceptance for such calls.
Few most important points to be kept in mind while aiming to enhance customer service experience are as follows:
Robust Product/Service with Minimum Failure Chances – Keep little room for failures. When customers don’t come across problems, they are naturally delighted. You don’t need to develop any rocket science to keep them happy.
On-time Every Time – If this one thing is taken care of your customers are sure to rate you as a company with excellent after-sales support. On-time support to their queries is what they seek and if you are able to give that 90% of the times, you should consider yourself to have done a good job.
Reduce the need for Repeat Calls – Good customer support should seek equilibrium. Call customers whenever required, but don’t make it an incessant activity. Offer first time fix to you customers as far possible. Do not play around and ping-pongthe customer between various departments for help. Customer’s time is too precious to ask them to call later or to another department. Customers are not interested in knowing who is at the other end of the phone as much they are about getting their problem solved. So when you provide a customer support number, ensure that the customers aren’t told to �call the other department�.
Warm and Friendly Response – This need not be told, but sometimes, just a warm and friendly response does the trick. Respect their privacy and try not to go too overboard. Stick to problem-solving or whatever the goal of your call is. Also, try to look beyond just the facts and figures, and relate to the emotional side of the customer perspectives. When a customer says he faces difficulty without his TV set since the Cricket World Cup is on, understand his concerns and put efforts to repair his set in quick TAT than usual.
Make them Feel Important – Listen to them and convince them that their query/concern/problem/complaint is important to you. Then, try to resolve them in the quickest time possible. Build customer loyalty in them. Know their name and treat every customer as your best customer.
Offer Flexibility – Customers love it when they are given �you will be helped� feeling. Not just say it, but offer them help in all ways possible. If customer’s concern is outright genuine, you may even work on a weekend and delight the customer.
Overall, customers just need to be heard and their problems resolved. If you can create that feeling, your customers would stay with you for long and also be your brand champions. Stop trying to delight your customers by thousand different obsessive ways. Just give them what they need and win their trust in your products and services.
