Customer service can be difficult, especially if you’re constantly busy it can be hard to maintain the same standard all the time. Some businesses may use a customer service consultancy in the UK to help ensure they’re giving the best service they can at all times too. Giving good service is more than just answering the phone too. So, if you’re looking for an easy way to up your customer service game, keep reading and discover 5 simple tips that will do just that.
- Be Accessible
Think about how many different ways you’ve gotten in touch with different companies over the years. There’s phone, email, live chats, and more, so if you’re only offering your customers one method of communication, it might be hindering your service. Only providing a telephone number that’s active during office hours might cause more complaints than necessary as most people also work during these hours so won’t be able to contact you. Adding a secondary method of communication will allow your customers to feel heard and not frustrated when they try to get in touch. By providing your customers with multiple ways to contact you, you’re ensuring accessibility for all.
- Go The Extra Mile
It’s easy to just pick up a query and do the basics to resolve it. But really, each query should be treated individually and looked at thoroughly. Always think if there’s something extra you can do to really provide excellent service for the customer. Not only will you help resolve their query better, but they’re more likely to remember your interaction and be a returning customer. Good customer service is one of the key factors when it comes to retaining customers, so you want to make sure every interaction is dealt with as well as it possibly can be.
- Take Ownership
Things do can and will go wrong sometimes, it’s unavoidable. So make sure that when things don’t go quite right, you own up to it and show the customer you take responsibility. Don’t fall into the trap of just resolving complaints with a simple apology and a discount. Take the time to figure out what went wrong, how it happened, and what you can do to ensure it won’t happen again. Convey this to the customer to show that you care, and they’ll feel confident to return to your business, even if things didn’t start off so great.
- Invest In Your Team
If you don’t have the right team, it will be impossible to provide and maintain good customer service. Make sure that your team is made up of dedicated individuals who want to help customers and aren’t just wanting to resolve the queries as quickly as they can. However, to ensure you have a dedicated team, you need to invest in them and make coming to work each day feel worth it. You want to create a positive working environment so that the team feels motivated each day. Without a happy team, you’ll definitely notice your customer service standards slip, so really focus on developing your office culture and team.
- Actively Listen
When you answer hundreds of calls all the time, it can get a little repetitive. However, you really need to treat each call as brand new and needing assistance. Make sure that you actively listen to what the customer is saying. For example, if they say their product arrived damaged, think about why it arrived this way and what can we do to stop this from happening again. By working to eliminate future problems, you should also see a reduction in your contact volume. You also want to ensure you see each customer as an individual and not just another number in the queue. Once you’re speaking to the next person, forget about the one before and really listen to what their query is.
Really if your customers are happy, they shouldn’t need to contact you, so when they do and it’s regarding a problem, make sure that you do everything you can to resolve it. Good customer service can be difficult to maintain at all times, and sometimes it might not go so well. But, by implementing these 5 tips above, you should see a great improvement.
