In this day and age, good enough is not good enough. Customers have a wealth of information to compare services, especially customer support. With websites like Google Reviews and Yelp, a negative customer support experience can be disastrous for your business. Therefore, you must place a heavy emphasis on how your customer support staff treats your customers and clients.
In this article, we will take a look at 5 effective strategies for providing the best customer support. These will include:
- Always finding the best solution
- Being unfailingly polite
- Empowering the customer with a directory system
- Actively listening to address common problems
- Going the extra mile
Always Find the Best Solution
As stated in the introduction, being good enough is simply not enough. Customers want to have their problems resolved cheaply, quickly, and inexpensively. Therefore, you must train your staff to always offer the best solutions to a customer’s problems. Instead of offering short-term fixes and stop-gap measures, start by offering the best solution to a customer’s problems.
As an example, a customer may be constantly dealing with overdue billing fees. Instead of helping the customer resolve this issue each time, why not offer them a direct deposit function to remove the problem altogether? Whether the customer chooses to go this route is up to them, but it shows that your company wanted to solve their issue in the best way possible – not fleece them for your company’s benefits. In return, customers will recognize how your company acts ethically and on their behalf.
Be Unfailingly Polite
One of the most important aspects of customer support is to always affect a positive demeanor over the phone. Nothing turns off customers more than having to deal with someone grouchy, rude, cold, or negative. Even when confronted with verbal abuse and threats, make sure that your customer support team doesn’t take things too seriously. Instead, “kill them with kindness” and be polite to disarm potential customer support nightmares.
Empower the Customer with a Directory System
Sometimes, the best customer support you can give to your customers is to let them handle it themselves. In fact, it may not even be necessary for customers to speak with a customer service rep. Common problems that clog up your inbound calls can be solved by setting up a directory system to handle such calls. Typically available from telecom companies that offer virtual phone numbers to the public, these directories can enable customers to handle their own issues. And, if a caller does need more direct options, the directory can point the customer directly to the party they need to contact.
Actively Listen to Address Common Problems
Active listening skills are paramount for success in customer support. It takes a bit of awareness and detective work, but it is an attainable skill for more personal customer support. Often, a problem can be diagnosed and fixed, not from the words per se, but from what can be read between the lines.
As an example, you may have an older individual complaining about their device malfunctioning. However, your customer support staff may notice that this customer has experienced the same problem multiple times. As a response, you can guide the customer towards accessibility options for seniors. By using this approach, you can find a long-lasting solution rather than a temporary fix that will only result in more frustration.
Go the Extra Mile
Customer support needs to go above and beyond to please the demands of most customers. To do so, your customer support team should not only help resolve issues for your customers, but follow up as needed. Similarly, you should use business phone numbers that are reserved for high-priority clients and urgent matters. This gives customers the relief that their call is important and that you’re taking their matters seriously. Instead of being just another number, a customer feels that their business has genuine importance.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, customer support should be handled with a well-developed strategy. Hopefully, these techniques will be of assistance as you prepare to ensure your business manages customers’ needs with utmost attention. Above all, it always pays to be ready to serve your customers with the best service possible; a carefully-curated strategy will enable you to execute it properly.
Tom Senkus is a former telemarketer that shares his best strategies for achieving great customer support. When he’s not working on his writing career, he can be found living the life of a digital nomad. Find more info at www.tomsenkuswriter.com