Date: March 3, 2020
Category: Blog
The world of customer service is constantly moving and evolving, but there are standards and pillars of success that remain the same. Here are the 6 things you may be doing wrong. Are you guilty of any of these customer service blunders? If so, don’t panic, we’ll have you sorted in no time…
Hiring the wrong people
Great customer service starts with a great Customer Service Team, so be sure to get it right! Each customer service platform calls for certain skills; Social Media Advisors, for example, need a high-level of written communication, great attention to detail and brand/marketing awareness.
The one thing all Advisors should have in common, though, is a passion for helping people, great communication skills and a willingness to learn- try not to hire people simply because they’re available!
Not looking after your Customer Service Team
Once you have your fantastic Customer Service Team, you’ll want to keep them around!
Be sure to engage all of your employees; offer routes for learning, progression and help them achieve their goals.
Listen to any suggestions and feedback that your employees may have and do all you can to respond to these suggestions. After all, your Customer Service Team are at the front line of customer communication, so they’ll know your customer and their thoughts better than anyone. Not only will listening to their suggestions help the team feel happier and more engaged, it may even improve your customer experience.
We’ve said it a million times and we’ll say it again: A happy customer service team = a happy customer.
Poor training
To minimise the chance of your Customer Service Team making mistakes, you need to provide tip-top training. Having a dedicated Training Team is the best way forward here. Be sure to maintain a consistent form of communication with your clients/campaigns to ensure that the training experience is tailor-made to their brand.
Poor choice of words
Is the Customer Service Team using the right language when speaking to customers? Ensure that interactions are appropriate and polite, with lots of Ps and Qs! Steer clear of any regional colloquialisms or jargon- you don’t want to confuse your customer.
Your brand’s Tone of Voice should help with this too and putting your heads together with the Marketing department will help align the two consumer-facing voices. Your customer service team should be a seamless extension of your brand.
Not being genuine
Being genuine is incredibly important. If a customer feels that they’re being patronised, or -worse- humoured, then you risk losing them as a valued customer. Talk to your customer in a polite, honest, authentic and human way, and you can’t go much wrong.
Not listening to your customer
This may sound a little obvious, but listening is the key to a great customer service experience.
Don’t think your customer won’t be able to tell if the Advisor is not listening to them properly. If the Customer Service Team aren’t listening to their customers properly, then they risk missing key details, or neglecting important actions.
But if the Advisor is listening intently, they may pick up on subtle bites of information that they can use to improve the customer’s experience: The customer may have very briefly mentioned that they’re going on holiday- the Advisor can offer further assistance/take any actions for this and wish the customer a happy holiday at the end of the interaction!
Think you need help with your customer contact? Simply get in touch.
