Designing customer care strategies that make our business grow is vital if we are to make sure our project is successful and if we want to increase our portfolio of contacts. Knowing these skills will also help us to retain our current customers, leaving our competitors wallowing in our wake.
These are the 9 customer service strategies you should bear in mind:
1. Pro-actively offer your help
Customers wants us to help them. Always show yourself willing to satisfy their needs, listen carefully, document their requirements. It is important to know how to channel our customer’s complaints through to the most appropriate person; we should always listen to what they are asking us about and we should take their suggestions into account so that they value the quality of the service that we offer.
2. Act quickly when they make us aware of their concerns
One of the things that we place the most value on as customers is speed when it comes to resolving our doubts and indeed our complaints. Don’t make your customer wait, and reduce their waiting times as much as possible. Your customer will thank you for it. Give them advice. Offer them every guarantee.
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3. Talk the same language as your customer
When a customer asks for an explanation, he wants to understand what we are telling him in reply. In other words, talk his language and avoid technical terms; the best thing is to put yourself in his place and make him see that we do understand what he needs – this is a key aspect of what we call customer care.
4. Employ positive language
Avoid the word “no”. Behave honestly, but avoid negative language that makes us look incompetent or anything other than professional. Instead of “we can’t help you”, offer alternatives and grant them whatever time it takes for them to feel they have been well looked after.
Related post: 7 customer care skills that your employees must know
5. Personalise the way you treat your customers
Your customers don’t want to feel that they are just another number in your list of contacts. They want you to know them and they want to feel they are important. Part of your customer care strategy must be to let them know you as a person: you can send personalised emails, you can use the person’s first name when you call him on the phone, etc. One small gesture can make all the difference.
6. Show them you are a professional
Another way to say “be professional” might well be “be honest”. In other words, follow through on what you promise and don’t make promises you can’t keep. Professionalism is one of the most important qualities when it comes to placing value on a service.
7. Watch out for the level of satisfaction
The best way to retain your customers is to always offer them a good service. Put all your energy into ensuring their satisfaction and then follow up to make sure that your product achieved the desired results. Show them that you are willing to maintain the relationship with your customer as an essential element of your strategy.
8. Use measuring standards
Establish standards or guidelines that avoid subjective evaluations. Add quality and performance variables that can be objectively measured to your internal processes. You’ll keep much more control and a more reliable control over the growth of your business.
9. The customer is the centre of your business
Put the customer in the centre of your business decisions. Adapt your services to their needs; innovate on the basis of your customers’ suggestions. Be bold! Try out new ideas, products and services to improve the experience of your users.
What are your customer care strategies?