You can’t have dissatisfied customers and yet expect to have a successful business. The two don’t mix. If you want to have a successful business with longevity, keeping your customers happy and satisfied at all times is key. And the key to this is top notch customer service.
Asides from keeping your business profitable, satisfied customers also equals a highly competitive business. If your business is currently lagging, here’s how you can energise it by switching to a more customer oriented business plan:
- Hiring the right people
You can’t care for your customers the right way if you don’t have the right people on your staff. No amount of training and retraining can change an individual’s personality so you need to make sure you hire personnel who share your company goals and enthusiasm for customer satisfaction. For instance, hiring someone with a friendly personality and placing him/her at the front desk or as a sales rep will put customers more at ease and make them feel welcome. So when hiring, keep an eye out for potential, enthusiasm, and an understanding of your company’s philosophy.
- Make customer service everyone’s focus
It’s not just the receptionist, marketers, customer service reps, and sales reps that should operate in a customer focused manner. Everyone in the company from the doorman to the guys in IT should operate with a customer first mentality. This is important because with no customers, there would be no business. So everyone in your company should be pitching in to keep the customers happy.
- Training happens every day
There’s no such thing as too much training, especially in light of the fact that customer needs are always changing. Recently, Starbucks had to retrain all their staff in the US after two customers were poorly treated at a branch. So don’t shy away from investing in training your personnel in order to ensure they actually have the tools and knowledge to serve and relate with your customers the right way
- Happy employees are a big asset
It’s easier for a satisfied and happy employee to provide great customer service, compared to a bitter and dissatisfied employee with poor working conditions. Since happy employees are in a better position to create happy customers, make the effort to provide optimal working conditions for your staff and ensure they are well cared for. One easy way to accomplish this is through fostering a rewarding work environment for employees.
- Offer flexible solutions
Be it payment terms, hassle-free returns policies, prices, delivery options, or otherwise, offer your customers options so they can pick the one that’s most convenient and satisfies their needs. If a customer can get all he/she needs from your business, there’ll be no reason to check out the competition. Having that degree of flexibility is particularly valuable in the early stages of your business’s life as you’ll be likely to face a number of ups and downs in those vital first few years.
- Reward loyalty and retain customers
Retaining customers can be difficult, but it’s much easier if you provide your customers a reason to stay. You can accomplish this through loyalty schemes, listening and responding to customer feedback, and more. A customer that feels appreciated is more likely to keep coming back. Just make sure your loyalty scheme is straight forward and doesn’t seem like a ploy.
