Customer service is a fine art! This is because there is a lot to know and more to sense about the ways of delivering great service to humans. Indeed, in essence, it’s all about building great relationships. Having a positive energy as a human and being open to other people is the core foundation. If we want to provide the best customer experience, our team needs to have a positive psychological state and good communication skills. As a leader you might need to show both by providing excellent customer service at all times. Promoting a positive, helpful and friendly environment will safeguard customer delight.
A happy customer will return often and will likely refer the brand to the same calibre of prospect clients. It’s here, that it is critical to listen to customer complaints and avoid defensive behaviour. Most of the time, there is a lot to be learned from complaints about the product, people or the service. Let customers know that you appreciate feedback by overcoming objections. Listen to what the customer is objecting about – is it the product or a behaviour? Collect information and confirm the validity of all concerns while presenting solutions. It is essential that everyone within the organization realize that without customers they wouldn’t have a job.
Even employees who never deal with the public must exhibit good customer service skills. How employees treat each other is an indication of how the organization will treat the public. Every employee needs to understand they have customers — whether the customer is external or internal. Some employees deal only with other employees inside the company, but serving them well is just as important as serving outside customers. Here is quick checklist of behaviours we should all demonstrate to ensure an exceptional customer experience — internally or externally:
- Listen: active listening works wonders to build trust and confidence that something will get done in a timely manner.
- Focus: concentrate on building relationships with clients that align with your company vibe and culture.
- Help: it’s the small things – even just letting a customer know about an event that you know they’re personally interested in is caring.
- Accountable: take the time to find out customers’ expectations so you can meet them and take ownership when you don’t.
- Collect: make a policy of collecting information on both positive and negative feedback the company receives.
- Improve: continuously look for ways to develop the level of service delivered through optimization of processes, internal marketing or seminars.
- Smile: it can work wonders to alleviate tension and create a positive customer experience – use your smile to make it a positive one.
Organisations don’t always know how to deliver superior customer service but executives can ensure employees provide a high level of customer care by forming and sharing the company Customer Service Principles. However, for the principles to work, every employee has to have a customer-focus service psychology that is clearly defined by the company’s expectations. Expressing to people of what’s expected from them, makes it much more likely that they will do their best to meet the company expectations. Customer are humans – and most times – humans care more about how an issue is handled rather than the issue itself. It’s here that kindness and good relationships will always conquest bad moments or negative vibes.