Your business is nothing without your customers! So, why do so many companies fail to understand the importance of GREAT customer service and being open to hearing ALL customer complaints?
TIPS TO HANDLE CUSTOMER CONCERNS:
1.Understand that KNOWLEDGE is KEY! Open your mind to hearing what your customers are saying about your service. LISTEN to their concerns!
2.Be PROACTIVE instead of reactive. Customer Surveys and asking clients for feedback on a regular basis will open lines of communications and help to avoid problems in the future with your services. Be thankful for their valuable input!
3.Don’t hide your mistakes from your client! No matter the mistake or error, a client will appreciate you calling immediately and telling them what happened than to discover it later on.
4.Treat customers as you would like to be treated. This is an old saying, but often people forget this when dealing with customers. They worry too much about their own bottom line and fail to see that pleasing a client is more valuable than the one sale.
5.Put your customer’s needs first! We often wear many hats today in our companies, but the most important hat we wear is being a “concierge clerk” for our client. It is key to being successful in today’s business world when you can meet and go above and beyond the needs of every customer. Stay positive when your clients ask more of you than what you thought possible….find solutions and STAY POSITIVE!
6.Stay in touch and always ask for referrals. If you stay active with your clients they remain active with you. Often we sell with one time in mind and fail to see that a customer is forever a client and friend providing we allow it. Know your clients interests, hobbies, birthday, etc. Be more than “just” the person who sold them a service! Standout from your competitors.
7.Return calls and emails within that same day! The key is to getting back to your customers as fast as possible. Even if they have asked for something that takes more time than a day, be sure to connect with them to let them know you are aware of the problem and that you are addressing it. People will judge your company by your actions. If you take days to follow-up on emails it appears like you are too busy for their business.
8.Leave your problems at home. Your customers are your business….without them you have no business. No matter what is happening in your own personal life, when you are at work it must be about work!
9.Stay POSITIVE! We all hear horror stories about the economy and companies that are one the verge of closing, but you are in business TODAY and the best thing for business and your customers is stay focused on the positive sides of your business. Be kind to customers and potential customers and never let them see you sweat!
10.Make sure ALL employees [no matter what their position in the company is] follow the above tips and realize that ALL customers are important!
Negativity can spread like a cancer in a company if lines of communications are broken in a company. Be sure that your entire staff sees the importance of Customer Service and that you reward excellence and that you are open to hearing when staff is overwhelmed with a difficult client. Take precautions and have a policy in place that will assist your staff in difficult situations. One suggestion is to have them offer the client a manager to speak with who might be able to refund the cost of the service or give something extra.
Note from Charlene: As a marketing coach and owner of an advertising agency, I see maintaining great customer relations as essential to the success of a company. Relationship building is the key to growing your business. Your current customers are the people who can give positive word of mouth advertising or negative. With the internet and social sites like Twitter or Facebook, your company can gain tremendous growth with some vocal happy customers or be sunk quickly by the unhappy ones.
