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Make Your Customer Service Sing

Joyce Morse

July 15, 2015

In today's high-tech, instant-sharing world, it's not enough to have good customer service.

You have to strive to ensure that your business stands out from the crowd. Your customer service must be so exceptional that customers not only return to your company but they tell others about it, too.

So, how does one turn good customer service into great?

Go Above and Beyond

Most companies feel they have done enough if they have met the customer's needs. However, your competition can do that as well.

What will make you different from the company across the street or in another state is the extra things you do.

Ask yourself what your customers would like even if they would never expect it or ask for it.

What would make their day? Figure out what would put the "wow" into their day and then do it.

For example, send a free sample to every customer who calls into your center with a problem or complaint. Give them a discount on their next purchase or another token of your appreciation or apology.

Train Your Agents and Give them Power

Make sure your customer service agents have the knowledge on how to handle customer complaints and problems. Provide ongoing training to answer questions as they come up.

When an agent is prepared to deal with issues, he or she is more confident in how to help the person.

Once the agent is trained, give that person some independence on how to solve customer problems.

Some companies provide scripts to their agents and don't allow them to deviate from it.

While this is done to prevent miscommunication, it often leads to frustrated agents and dissatisfied customers. Instead, trust your agents to handle routine problems on their own.

Also, provide resources for those times when they don't know what to do. This may be a supervisor or manager to call in complex matters or a procedures book that outlines the correct response.

Be Honest

Today's customers value transparency in organizations.

As the article, “Customer Service: Help Your Business Stand Out from the Competition,” says, you should always tell the truth even if it's not what your customers want to hear.

You won't lose credibility as much when you say "I don't know" or "I can't do that" as when you pretend you have the answer and the customer finds out differently later on.

You have to work to establish a relationship with each customer and that requires honesty in all of your communications.

Sometimes you won't be able to fix a problem for the customer.

What you can do is apologize and take the blame. Offer to make it right in another way. Customers who expect to be lied to or ignored will find your approach refreshing.

You can stand out from the crowd in your industry if you offer a new style of customer service.

Always put the focus on your customers, be honest with them and train your service staff to handle customer issues in a positive way.

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