Being a small business entrepreneur means that you have to keep your eye on various things on a daily basis while also performing the core tasks that only you can complete. That being said, there is arguably nothing as important to your small business and your ability to keep things running smoothly as customer service.
Even if you have the best original product or service available on the market, people will decide to stop doing business with you if your customer service is poor. Moreover, dissatisfied customers are likely to take their complaints public by writing negative reviews online. These reviews can all too easily deter new customers from ever doing business with you in the first place.
With all this in mind, you might find that your business is in need of some practice customer service improvements. If this is the case for your company, here are three tips that can help improve your customer service.
1. Pay Attention to the Numbers
While there is much to be said for having the right employees in place to handle your customer service, it is also important to pay close attention to the numbers. You should never underestimate the value of analytics in providing you with the information and insights that you need to make positive changes to your business. The same principles can be applied to your customer service department as well.
If you do not already have the right analytics dashboards in place for your customer service, you should look to implement the applicable software as soon as possible. By keeping an eye on your analytics dashboards, you can discover precisely where things are breaking down and what changes you can make to effectively correct things.
2. Emphasize Good Communication
Of all of the things that come into play in regard to good customer service practices, communication is among the most important. If your customer service representatives aren’t effective and efficient communicators, your customer service will surely suffer.
Moreover, even if your employees are naturally good communicators, they might not have the right communication tools at their disposal to do their jobs well. Check-in with them from time to time to see if they feel they have everything they need to communicate with customers. If not, you might need to make some investments into the right communication tools for your small business. Another best option, to lessen the expenses for tools and trainings is to try call center outsourcing and find a company you can work with. They use tools and software to monitor calls and set regular employee evaluation to ensure that they are representing your brand well.
3. Make Complaints the Priority
It can be difficult to handle customer complaints, particularly those on the emotional side and extremely negative. These customers can make you feel, at times, as though there is nothing you can do to make things better. While this might be the case at times, it is always important to make such complaints the priority with customer service.
Make sure that such complaints are being listened to and addressed as quickly as possible. While you might find that there is simply nothing you can do in some cases, you will be more likely to change a dissatisfied customer’s mind by addressing their issues sooner rather than later.
