What is Customer Service | Customer Service Ideas
Customer service is and always has been important to any business. Maybe that should read “should be and have been” when you hear or read about some of the bad experiences reported by customers.
Even those with a good record of customer service cannot afford to rest on their laurels. What is the point of working hard to attract and capture customers if then we then give them away through a bad customer service experience?
As Veronica Broomes rightly states, customer service is no longer a privilege. Here she passes on some simple tips to help retain customers through good customer service.
Top 10 Tips For Excellence in Customer Service - No Longer a Privilege
Excellence in customer service is no longer the privilege of a few, but the expectation of many. As part of the process of improving customer care, businesses need to learn from and share 'worst practice', not just best practice.
There is always room for improvement, so use 'worst practice' to find ways of improving current performance in delivering customer service.
Here are 10 tips to help you deliver excellence in customer service:
1. Engage with people in a friendly and professional way.
2. Identify customer needs and expectations -respond to them.
3. Handle difficult situations swiftly, thoughtfully and firmly -avoid escalation.
4. Be quick to admit when wrong -customers prefer honesty when mistakes are made.
5. Focus on delivering best customer service based on getting it right first time.
6. Provide accurate and timely feedback to customers (internal and external).
7. Be prepared for and respond to changing needs of customers. Failure to respond can lead to loss revenues, damage to your brand and far-reaching cost to reputation.
8. Develop customer service policy that gives life to your Customer Service Charter.
9. Demonstrate CARE (Courteous Action Required Everytime).
10. Empower customer facing staff -It's impressive and saves money. Empowered staff can exceed expectations in resolving potentially damaging situations.
Here are eight teasers from our customer service crossword to test your customer service knowledge. The number of letters in the correct responses is given in brackets.
a) Do this using both your eyes and mouth (5 letters). b) Type of contact that is essential in face-to-face communication (3 letters). c) Type of customer outside an organisation (8 letters). d) Avoid using this when speaking with customers (6 letters). e) Customers prefer (9 letters) when mistakes are made. f) Use this to be tactful with customers (9 letters). g) Can be used to calm an angry customer (4 letters). h) To be ahead of your competitors, you need to match organisation values with customers' (12 letters).
Interested in knowing the correct answers, email: quiz@executive-solutions.co.uk
Take action now to improve the customer experience!
For more useful FREE tips on public speaking, go online to http://www.executive-solutions.co.uk where Veronica Broomes shares numerous useful tips and quotations, or sign up to her blog at http://executive-solutions.blogspot.com
REPRINT RIGHTS: This article may be reprinted once copyright is acknowledged as vested in Veronica Broomes and year of publication given as 2008. Full citation: © 2008 Veronica Broomes
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