How much time, effort and resources are you (your company) spending on customer service? Are you providing quality customer service, or simply assigning those duties elsewhere?
Providing great customer service starts with listening.
Your sales people on the showroom floor are customer service representatives for your company. So are the in-home installers, your receptionist, the CEO, even the brand new staff member you just hired in shipping.
In today's environment, your clients and customers are looking for information about you and your company from every level of staff member you have employed. What are your customer service representatives - your staff - saying about your company, your brand, your reputation? I am not suggesting you put a muzzle on everyone, nor am I telling you how to run your team. However, if you want to create the groundwork for great (or expectational) customer service, it must first start with a staff of great listeners. Empower your staff to be less defensive when someone provides negative feedback about your company or a product you provide. Hey, everyone has their right to an opinion. Instead of barking back a response, one of the most disarming phrase a great customer service representative can offer are the words "thank you for your feedback".
These guidelines should also be applied to your on-line customer service. In fact, social media is one of the best places to provide customer service and build positive relationships with your clients and wanna be clients.
You have probably heard how Domino's Pizza turned negative comments about their product into a very creative and successful advertising campaign. I applaud them (Domino's) for this tactic. While many were quick to point out all the negative comments that were being posted on their website and social media about their product, Domino's Pizza were able to diffuse the situation by turning it into a positive campaign.
You know it all to well. Clients either like you, do not know about you, or do not like you. What are you doing on-line and off-line to build stronger relationships with your "A" list of clients, and more importantly, what are you doing to gain the trust, respect and financial rewards from the other groups?
Providing exceptional Customer service goes a long way both on-line AND off-line.
-Darren
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