Anna Maria Richards
Good customer service should be at the heart of every company. This service ensures that you not only close new customers, but are able to maintain long-lasting relationships with existing clients. In order to offer the best customer service, we speak to specialist customer service advisors TieTa, who offer their top 5 tips:
1. Quick Responses
Responding to leads quickly is one of the most effective ways to ensure new customers. People appreciate fast responses as it shows that your company is attentive and reliable. When closing new leads quickly, it also assures customers that any future correspondence will be efficient. All of this paints your company as a highly professional service. This also applies to reviews on Google My Business and TripAdvisor. If customers have taken the time to share their experience with a review, it is important to acknowledge that and thank them.
2. Answer Complaints
Nobody likes to receive poor feedback but taking complaints on board shows customers that you respect their opinion. Additionally, it can help your company become better by learning from any mistakes or criticisms. You will notice that the companies with the best company service respond to reviews – both good and bad – addressing their customers with respect, acknowledging their opinion and promising to take their feedback on board.
3. Be Available
There is nothing more frustrating for a customer than trying to reach a company and not being able to, be it for an enquiry, a complaint or an update on their order. Whether it is email, social media, live chat, telephone, or all the above, make sure that someone is readily available to answer customer questions and messages.
4. Clear & Polite Communication
The old adage “the customer is always right” is at the heart of good customer service. You may not always agree with what the customer is saying, but it is important that you answer any messages calmly, respectfully, politely and professionally. When communicating with customers, you will need to be clear in your communication as well as friendly. Customer service relies on effective correspondence and a great deal of empathy – the ability to put yourself in the client’s shoes to understand their problem.
5. Offer Solutions
It is all very well being a good listener but if a customer is calling you with an enquiry or a complaint, they are expecting a solution. If this is a complaint, this may be in the form of compensation such as refunds, freebies or returns. For queries or enquiries, the customer service representative will need to be competent enough to answer with a logical and valid solution.
