Making Customer Service The Core Of The Business

Every small business owner might like to think that they provide good customer service, but service isn’t just about giving a greeting, a smile, and high-quality products and services. It requires you to take into account the barriers and issues your customers face when interacting with the business and what you sell and what you can do to remove those barriers. Here are a few examples worth taking into account.

Make convenience the key

Self-service is just as important as being able to access members of your team. Look at the potential friction points in using your business. Are customers well-informed enough to make their decision without the inconvenience of having to ask? Does your business website have good navigation and a positive user experience or is hard to use? Can customers easily find the answers to potential problems themselves or do they have to use human help? Focus on making every step of their journey more convenient, even if something goes wrong, and they will appreciate the effort.

Have time for your customers

One problem small business teams run into is that they don’t have as much time to engage customers as often simply because they have too much work on their plate. Software is making it much easier to handle our workload, but if you’re using separate systems to handle too many different duties, it is still overwhelming. Multitasking software packages like those from Ebecs can connect more of your systems together, making it easier to work with all of them. This saves a lot of time, which can be better used on addressing customer complaints and engaging with them directly.

Morale is everything

If you want your team to live up to the brand promise of providing good customer service, then you have to account for not just what resources they provide, but their mood as well. You can’t expect genuine enthusiasm for helpfulness if they’re not satisfied with their own job. There are plenty of ways to help employees feel valued and keep their motivation, as shown at Localwise. You can’t guarantee they will always be in a good mood, but you can ensure you’re giving them a fighting chance to best represent the business.

Evolve service to success

To really take it to the next level, you need to focus on not only how you help the customer, but how you ensure they get the outcome they expected. Gainsight looks at the concept of customer success, measuring not only how well you can sell your product, but whether or not you customer truly benefits from it. By focusing on customer success, you not only ensure they’re pleased with how they were treated by the business, but you improve the chances of retaining them, as well.

Hopefully, the examples above ensure you now have a better idea of what real customer service looks like. It’s something that takes investment and forethought, not just an earnest aim to please. Now, it’s time to think about how to implement it in your own business.