A successful customer support has a connection element – satisfied customers feel like they’re part of our company, and they’d never leave.
In order to develop relationships with your customers and win them over, customer service leaders need to find out what passions drive their customers. This will allow the customer service agent to use these passions for a positive relationship with every type of customer no matter how difficult the situation is.
Every paying customer has a need that needs to be met. The type of need depends on the individual, but there is always some form of requirement for their business to satisfy them.
Someone who chooses a company to complete this transaction is taking a risk, since they are trusting the transaction will be completed.
Employees work together to fulfill this promise by targeting the same standard of customer service. Good customer service is integral to any business, and teamwork among employees plays a pivotal role in how it will be achieved.
An individual can have a position as either a trainer or member of staff.
Trainers teach company employees how to be successful with customers.
Staff members provide customer service whether they are interacting with a person face to face or over the phone.
When both customer-facing and back office staff work together to meet the needs of customers, successful service is always only a few steps away.
Step One: Determine the service’s mission and underlying motivation.
Customer service professionals need to identify their own passions in order to come up with good customer service strategies that are based on the very things they enjoy.
For those who are unsure about the type of work they want, asking yourself a number of questions like “why have you chosen this field?” or “how does your work make an impact?” will help you find more clarity.
By finding their strengths, customer service staff can identify the key values that drive them to succeed. A true personal value must fulfill three criteria: Choosing (at least one of the client’s core values), Prizing (how valuable this strength is), and Acting in line with it.
When crafting their company’s policies, customer service reps should use a value that represents both the company and themselves.
When the employee knows this value, it must be one that they can highlight through their work and life. Acting this value out on the job is key to success.
Once a company identifies its mission, it’s important for employees to understand how the process works. They should be able to create Mission Statements that illustrate their customer service approach and show them where they need make adjustments in order to uphold this ideology.
A customer service mission statement should be personal and brief, reflecting values and how they pertain to life, work, and others. These statements can even reveal hidden talents that staff members were not aware of, helping them find a more enjoyable place in the company.
Step Two: How would you define great service for your company?
A customer usually defines their perception of the company’s service not with the business.
The easiest way for an organization to understand great customer service is by asking their customers about it. What do the customers prefer?
What drives customers to switch between brands? Why do they get attached and loyal to certain companies?
A company’s customers expect five specific behaviors from the companies with which they do business: 1) Reliability, 2) Responsiveness, 3) Assurance, 4) Empathy, and 5) Tangibles.
A customer-oriented approach to business takes reliability to the core of its dealings, which includes honoring promises it makes to customers in its advertisements.
Responsiveness is primarily a time factor, how quick the company can close transactions and perform services.
Providing expert service as an employee is a key part of customer satisfaction.
Recognizing the value in understanding and patience are just some of the qualities that make empathy a helpful trait for managers to have.
Tangibles are physical objects that help satisfy customers.
Companies are often concerned with the Tangibles, such as brand name and similar activities that will wow customers.
Most people remember great customer service from an individualized touch or a moment of unexpected kindness. Trainers can create these outcomes by holding sessions and making lists, but there are also staples to consider in the service industry.
These are the building blocks that fulfill great customer service.
Step Three: Build Strong Relationships
In customer service, the knowledge staff have with regards to their job role helps them establish rapport with the customer and fix any problems they may experience.
People are curious about how people behave, which is why many social theories exist that focus on professional behaviors and consumer-based relationships.
One of the most important concepts for customer service employees is reciprocity.
Reciprocity deals with balance in relationships, especially communication. When a customer gives information, he or she expects similar information back and that includes similar emotional, intellectual, and substantial responses.
There are two key principles to reciprocity.
1. Your actions should be of equal value to other people’s if you want to experience positive interactions on the road.
2. Giving of yourself comes at a cost that is often repaid in some way the giver deems to be valuable.
Customers often underestimate the customer service representative’s ability to reciprocate in an interactive situation, so they provide more information rather than less.
Customer service professionals can also be thrown into an imbalance when they try to serve customers and provide all the information, but are unable to make customers feel satisfied.
Building reciprocity is easy in most service relationships. Customers typically greet smiles with smiles, regardless of how they’re feeling. Listening is also crucial; customer service staff should be prepared to listen and understand a client at all times.
The staff should not take for granted any customer response. Whenever a customer complements or thanks an employee, the staff should react with appreciation.
Step Four: Help foster trusting relationships that last
Trust and time are always changing variables when it comes to customer service.
Trust is intrinsic to each customer service relationship. Sometimes employees can earn a customer’s trust in seconds with a simple offer of help or simply smiling.
Other customers are less willing to speak with you and may keep their distance for much longer.
The first step is to listen seriously and with your full attention. Listening is important for every aspect of customer service, but when it comes to building a trusting relationship, listening is the most powerful tool you have in your arsenal.
Employees should first turn off their cell phones or any other distractions before they interact with customers. If an environment is noisy, employees should find a quieter place to talk to the customer one on one.
Customer service staff should listen to their customers on an empathetic level, hearing not only what they have to say but what they need and the entire scope of their problem.
Service staff should paraphrase and repeat what the customer said to make sure they understand, setting up trust between them. The more the service employee understands, the easier it will be to ask questions that will address their needs.
A customer service representative typically has a choice between asking closed- or open-ended questions.
An open-ended question allows the customer to expand on a certain point in their own words, often beginning with, “Can you tell me more,” “What happened,” or “How did.”
“What would happen if,” is not an example of an effective open-ended question.
Close-ended questions focus the respondents answers to a single yes or no and start with “Did you” or “Can you.
Staff members can also lead with questions designed to focus on a particular type of information, like a more thorough definition of the problem (When this happens what do you do?), a relay question to get the customer’s thoughts on the matter (What do you think?), or past success questions.
Step Five: Improve your mood and outlook on life by becoming more positive.
The Law of Attraction is an age-old theory in business that speaks to the power of positive thinking.
The law of attraction is the principle that one’s thoughts, intentions and words can attract desired effects.
People who think positively get more positive things in return. When people consider the world around them, it has a beneficial impact.
The law of attraction is not a zero-sum game; it cannot account for negative modifiers. When employees state, “I will not listen to gossip today” they are actively attracting thoughts, events and words related to “listening to gossip.
Employees using the Law of Attraction should focus on positive thoughts given that these attract more people.
Administrators should encourage staff to believe that they are capable of being excellent at their jobs even with the challenges.
Employees should never argue with customers, no matter how angry.
Instead of telling customers “no,” employees should find alternate words to use when speaking with the customer.
Rather than saying, “You left this off,” a customer service person can rephrase their response with something like,”I’m sure we can find what happened.”
The company representative might say, “Let me clear up that point for you.”. This helps the customer and the service member focus on positive aspects of their relationship with each other, which strengthens the relationship.
Every customer service representative should be personable while they answer the phone. They should speak at a comfortable voice level and remember to smile!
Be succinct, clear and explicit when communicating via email to avoid confusion.
Step Six: Solve problems quickly and aggressively, even difficult ones
Issues between customers and companies are usually caused by problems with communication or organizational structure. Customers are easily angered by misinformation or lack of communication.
When businesses change, oversights in service or technology and even a new person at the helm could create complications.
When faced with a customer complaint, service staff should remember these five steps:
1. Managers should seek to describe the problem at hand to either their employees or their customers.
2. Next, employees should look for reasons such as the root causes of the problem, and how it can be solved in order to understand what is going wrong.
3. After researching the situation, employees usually have a number of solutions in mind. They can talk to either customers or managers about their ideas and what types of outcomes they hope for.
4. Once the problem is resolved, staff should also consider other possible solutions if the same issue ever arises again. The more options they can offer to their next customer, the better impression they will make.
5. As the date approaches, employees should also look for ways to improve customer service and ensure everything runs smoothly. Businesses should plan in advance by looking for solutions to any problems that may arise.
Step Seven: If you’ve made a mistake, own up to it.
Mistakes happen. The goal of recovery is to regain the loyalty of a customer after they have been burnt by one too many errors or unsatisfactory experiences.
Build rapport with your clients by gracefully handling any mistakes.
The first step in resolving a complaint is to apologize. This does not mean the company or the customer service representative did anything wrong; it just acknowledges that you are aware they are dissatisfied with the business’ actions so far.
When apologizing to the customer, the representative should use their information to figure out what went wrong and how it can be fixed.
An angry customer assumes that the company has broken a promise. The service member should react calmly and avoid arguing with an angry customer.
It is better to provide a credit, take back damaged merchandise, and break company rules than create negative word of mouth.
When a customer has a problem, they expect some type of compensation. The staff should be prepared to offer the best solution possible, whether it was their fault or not.
Once the problem has been resolved, staff should follow up with a customer by phone to ensure the issue was fully dealt with. This is often an unexpected and refreshing gesture, so it’s an effective way to turn even angry clients into satisfied customers.
Step Eight: Give Customers and Yourself a Break
Different people view the world differently. There are many different personality combinations, and every customer has their own distinctive set of characteristics and habits that affect how they see things.
Some people are more demanding than others and a well-trained staff will be able to better handle these customers.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test (MBTI) is one of the most popular personality tests. The MBTI divides people into four different combinations of preferences like perceiving, thinking, judging and feeling.
Customer service representatives can be more effective if they know what type of personality they are dealing with.
Customers with differing communication styles should be met with different types of responses. Extraverts respond best to listening, open-ended questions and new solutions. Introverts best respond to enthusiasm and patience.
Confronted by empathetic people? Staff should be prepared to concentrate on the big picture, provide reasons for their own viewpoints, and repeat details as needed. Thinkers require a more efficient approach and prefer being well-informed.
Step Nine: When Things Get Hot, Keep Cool
When customers become angry at customer service representatives, it’s typically the result of prior interactions with company staff or policies. Customers may go through three stages of anger before coming to a resolution.
Customers who attempt to solve a problem but fail, then feel powerless and overrun with frustration. This is followed by anger when customers start blaming the company for their problems.
There are three steps to keeping calm when you’re confronted with an angry customer.
1) Listen to the person’s frustration.
2) Sort their complaint into major and minor complaints or problems, so that you can address them one at a time.
3) Be sure to thank them for bringing up any issues that they have and let
Dealing with customer problems is essential, but one of the key tips for calming frustrated customers is listening to their concerns attentively.
Customer service personnel should be assertive when necessary.
In some cases, a customer may need to be calmed down and some feedback helps the customer realize their actions are not practical.
When dealing with a customer who is very angry, service agents should not take advantage of them. The agent can help diffuse and calm the situation by remaining impartial.
Step Ten: Be Your Own Best Customer
In order to provide customers with the best possible service, customer service employees should always be happy. In reality, members of staff should view themselves as one of their customers and treat themselves kindly.
Constantly working without time for simple pleasures in life can lead to depression and reduced customer service efficiency. If it seems like people are becoming a hassle, it may be time to address personal happiness.
Treats like catching up with friends and taking a break from work could help improve your customer service, specifically in the workplace.