Understanding the unique needs and expectations of these customers can greatly improve service delivery and foster long-term relationships.
Related: Do you want customers to love you? Treat every customer as if they were your only customer
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One of the most unfortunate reasons customers can leave your business (“churn”) is that you have developed mistakes in your customer service and customer experience that are alienating your customers and driving them away.
These customer service mistakes often get worse during a period of rapid company growth. It's quite easy to provide fantastic service when you only have a few customers. But when a company's clientele begins to grow, the care and attention given to each customer tends to wane.
Workers no longer personally sign their thank you cards. Instead of interacting directly with VIP or long-term customers, managers are locked in their offices, burdened by an increasing amount of paperwork. Phone calls are answered more slowly and inconsistently, leading to longer than expected customer response times. When the answers do come, they are often unexpected and impersonal. In addition, recruitment standards have been lowered, and notes on Customer Relationship Management The (CRM) system has lost some of its original detail and complexity. Managers are often not available to resolve customer conflicts because they are simply too busy.
Is this lowering of standards inevitable? Definitely not – as long as you refocus your attention and with determination keep your commitment to provide exceptional customer service. The guiding principle is this: If you did something for your first customer, you need to find a way to continue doing it for your ten thousandth, without rushing, without taking shortcuts, and without doing anything that would make a new customer believe that your company does not value them.
In general, a growing company is more like a commodity provider than you think. You must prioritize providing exceptional customer service in every customer interaction if you want to keep your business out of that box of goods, where you will appear completely interchangeable with other suppliers.
Here are five essential actions to help you get back on track.
1. Look for any violations of customer service standards
How quickly do you answer your phones? Your standard should be three rings. Why? According to studies conducted by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, in that fourth ring, guests will have worried that you will not respond at all or that you will not be attentive if you do respond.
How fast are you? answer emails? In today's society, a request “within 24 hours” is unacceptable; that's the equivalent of 36 years of internet time. Instead, commit to answering each question in the same morning or afternoon. Do you get inquiries on your website? You may be surprised to find that these often go completely unanswered. These should receive the same attention as emails.
2. Create a company lexicon
This lexicon (phrasebook) should be full of preferred customer service language that employees should use, as well as phrases they should avoid. Some phrases that are immediate shutdown because your customers might include: “No problem”, “Please change”, “I won't argue with you”, “Did you plug it in?” and “Calm down.” Employees should always use polite phrases like “You're welcome” and “My pleasure.”
3. Develop your situational awareness skills
Improving and maintaining a high level of customer service requires training in situational awareness. Also known as “customer service sensitivity,” this enables an employee to connect with customers consistently through phone calls and emails.
4. Customize your in-service training to fit your business's specific market
For example, if your clientele are high net worth individuals, certain transformative concepts and practices are unique to them. Similarly, patient experience training can be a lifesaver in the medical field.
When your customer base is expanding rapidly, you want to make every effort to provide convenient communication, allowing customers to choose the channel and switch it whenever they want. They should be able to easily and conveniently text you in the morning, tweet you at night, and call you when needed.
If you communicate with customers across platforms, consumers should not repeat information they have already provided in another channel. In fact, they hate doing it. Choosing the right CRM (customer relationship management system) can help you avoid the dreaded “Can you repeat your credit card number for me?” charade. Some CRM solutions are designed to be “conversational,” meaning they will continue a conversation as your customer moves from X to Y.