No one thing will necessarily make your business a success. However, a single thing can sink it: the inability to keep your customers happy. Here are a few simple suggestions you can apply (or improve on if you already do them) to help your company provide better customer service.
Listen to all messages and call people back. Most large companies have people dedicated to taking phone calls. For smaller businesses, answering the phone can sometimes be tricky. A small business owner may have to rely on an answering machine or service. Even for large businesses, there are calls that slip through the cracks during busy days, after office hours, etc. Take the time to call your customers back and help them solve their problems. It will go a long way to help with customer retention.
Fix any customer-related issues as quickly as possible. People don’t like to be left waiting, especially if they feel like your company has mistreated them or made a mistake. To prevent these situations from escalating and to avoid negative comments circulating about your company, it is important that these unhappy customers are dealt with in a timely manner.
Make sure all of your policies are clearly written and easily found. If your company has a strict no refund policy, make sure this is stated clearly on your website and reiterated to every customer prior to their purchase. That way you have a strong foundation to stand on when customers want to return their product.
Hire kind and patient people to work in your customer service department and at the front desk. In most cases, the best kind of person to be on the front line of customer service is one who is patient and even tempered. Even with a trying customer, an employee who can listen patiently and work to find a solution that is positive for both the customer and the company is a necessity. Often a situation can be defused simply because the customer feels that someone truly cares.
Serving your customers and making sure they are always happy is key to growing and retaining your customer base. Focus on your customer service. It is one of the keys to your business’s success.
