Business owners routinely quote the idiom “the Customer is always right” but many companies have a difficult time convincing customers that they really believe it. If your goal is to create a “lifetime” customer relationship, taking the position that business customer service works through a dynamic process will help you achieve it. Dynamic customer service is based on knowledge, skill and attitude with the desire to exceed customer’s expectations of satisfaction at its core.
Mastering the art of business customer service takes patience and dedication. The key to delivering the type of service that makes your business stand out from your competition is to acknowledge that the product exists because of the needs of the customer, not the other way around.
Using this approach helps you to satisfy your customer whether they visit your location to purchase your product or they are ordering via the Internet. Price alone rarely creates lifetime customers, but offering the same product with outstanding service, will not only garner a business repeat sales, but customer referrals as well.
How do you begin to enhance your customer service? By looking beyond the function of your product to the benefit that the customer is seeking. How does it make their life easier, more convenient or give them more time and/or money? For example, the function of a washing machine is to clean clothes, but it is the benefits this appliance provides that the customer really buying; it reduces their workload, gives them extra free time and saves them money.
Viewing your product from this perspective reveals a whole new set of answers to the customer question of, “What’s in it for me?” Using the example above, some of the answers could be in the form of supplying them with laundry tips, discount offers, operational information and energy saving ideas. Adding these features enhances the value of the core product, helps you communicate to the customer that you understand their problem and gives them additional reasons to have a relationship with your company.
Using benefits as the central theme in market research, product planning and personnel training answers the question of WHY you are in business. The more your company “connects” with the customer from their perspective, the more your customer will have confidence in your company.
“Five Star Service” to a customer also includes ease of access to information they need before their purchase in addition to how their complaints are handled. When a customer is seeking a solution to a problem, it is important to provide a variety of means to relate and reassure the customer throughout the informational process. If something goes wrong after the sale, you must acknowledge that the customer has been disappointed, ask them what resolution they desire and then perform the actions that will relieve the stress the customer is experiencing, instead of simply providing sympathetic understanding.
For customer service to be truly effective, a company must commit to providing interactive access to product information before the sale through a variety of media; online chat applications, telephone and email support with a staff that is fully acquainted with the operation of the product the point of sale and identify what needs to be done to resolve the problem quickly and continue to deliver recognition to the customer after the sale.
As you broaden your customer service focus from making a sale to developing loyal relationships between your company and your customer there are many tools at your disposal; inviting their participation in product enhancement or providing them with “returning customer” exclusive offers as well as relating information via newsletters can elevate your company’s credibility and its profits.
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