10 Tips To Deliver Great Customer Service

10 Tips To Deliver Great Customer Service

Gain a competitive edge with an exceptional customer service strategy.

Set your business apart from the rest and exceed the expectations of even your most discerning and knowledgeable customers with a proven customer service strategy . These ten steps will help you develop and implement a customer service strategy of the highest standard, one that will help you to increase visitor conversion rates too. It will also improve long term customer acquisition, retention and loyalty through delivering great customer service, every time.

1. Determine your customers’ needs

Using specially designed market research surveys you can gain access to perhaps the most valuable information to your customer service operation. By asking the right questions and listening carefully you can find out exactly what it is your customers want, what they don’t and what is important to them – directly from them

2. Evaluate your current service offering

It is vital to benchmark your present customer service level so that you have a starting point to work from. By understanding where you currently are and where you need to be, you can establish the correct mind set and a target to move toward.

3. Establish performance standards

At this point it is important to generate ideas that can be used to help your company move towards the ultimate goal. These performance standards should be based on what your customers want, as identified in step one

4. Remember that every contact with a customer counts

Your customer service strategy is only as good as the contact a customer has with your business. Each time a customer deals with your company the experience will lead them to form an opinion about your business and the quality of the products or services being sold. Remember one bad experience can undo a lot of good work.

5. Manage your business through the eyes of your customer

Without customers your business ceases to exist. It therefore makes sense to manage it with their needs in mind at all times. As the manager of your organisation, it may be useful to view your role as being the customers’ representative and consider how this affects your decisions.

6. Reinforce the team culture

One of the greatest keys to success are the systems you put in place to involve and lead your team members. These are often the people who have the most contact with your customers. How your staff feel and how they are treated will typically determine how they treat your customers.

7. Empower your staff

Give staff the tools to perform their assigned tasks and be clear about what is expected of them as part of your customer service strategy. That way, you can ensure consistent quality output that meets and often exceeds acceptable standards.

8. Implement a feedback system

Feedback is a two way process that is critical to developing effective communication channels and understanding. Firstly, there needs to be feedback between the management and the staff to ensure satisfaction and performance standards are being met. Feedback from the customer is equally important to maintain a fresh perspective on the level of customer service being received.

9. Establish a culture of continuous improvement

Pay attention to the feedback received from customers! Here you then have the tools for continually improving your strategy to achieve a best in class customer support service that gives you a competitive edge.

10. Remain dedicated to the project

Whether in the first stages of implementing a new customer service strategy or further down the line with a strategy already in place, it is vital that you stay committed and get thoroughly involved in the project at all times if you are to realise a maximum return on investment.

Providing an outstanding customer service experience can put clear water between you and your competitors and keep your customers coming back for more! Give your customers what they want by getting to understand them and their needs!