As a small business, your customers’ needs should be at the heart of everything you do. Striving to achieve the best customer service possible means you can guarantee repeat business time and time again. not to mention the power that is word of mouth.
If someone loves what you do and the service you gave, they will make sure others know about it. But don’t forget, the reverse is also true. Fail to satisfy your client base, and before you know it, you have negative reviews and listings in yelp, and every other platform people can complain about you on.
So how can you hit the customer service sweet spot and ensure your customers keep coming back time and time again?
Ease of Sale
For everything you sell, be it a digital product, physical product bought in-store or online, or a service you provide, you need to ensure the customer has an easy transaction and a choice of payment methods.
Removing any obstacles that confuse or hinder the sale can help you prove smooth payment service across the board. So you can find a point of sale wherever you are, install a web-based application so you can process the transaction even if you are out of the office or storefront.
Build on Feedback and Constructive Criticism
Actively search out and request feedback on what you can make better, easier, or even how you meet their needs by offering new variations.
Knowing where you can do better and then actively working on this feedback to implement changes will show your customers you are serious about delivering an experience they need and fulfil the demand they have created.
Know your Competitors
Knowing where your competitors are succeeding or even not doing so well can give you an advantage you can use in your own company. Look at how they are evolving to meet their customer demand and potentially your customer’s demands too. How can you adapt what you do to fill the demand and tailor your services or products?
Use The Data
At every point of contact for every person who uses your small business, you will collect data. This will be different depending on the sector and your clients; however, interpreting any data you hold on them can help you anticipate their behavior and actions.
You can outsource your data or implement software that can take over its task for you, so you have the results at hand without spending time collating all the information.
Staff Training
You are only as strong as your weakest link, or rather member of staff. If one person isn’t hitting your customer service goals, then your whole team is being let down. Have regular staff training on customer service, products, services, and so on.
Fill in any gaps in knowledge, be it how the company works, who to contact for various inquiries or how to really use your products or services. If someone doesn’t know something, then that is a hurdle you need to remove, and you will only find such hurdles by undertaking regular training, staff meetings and assessments.
Conclusion
There are always ways you can improve on your customer service delivery, and being open to change and feedback can, in turn, help you to build yourself a better company that serves your customers well to help you go from strength to strength.
- DISCLOSURE – This post has been written by an outside source
