Tips for Great Customer Service

Looking for some tips for great customer service? Look no further

Customer Service Tip #1

Don’t use lots of jargon when dealing with a customer, I know your business is probably full of TLA’s, (three letter acronyms), KPI’s, (key performance indicators), FTR’s (first time resolutions), backorders (items out of stock and placed on order for when they come into stock) etc., but don’t confuse the customer. It distances you during the conversation, stopping you from connecting with them. It may also leave them feeling that they are expected to understand you, that you’re not easy to do business with and prevents them asking appropriate questions or giving you important information.

Step into their world, and speak their language. Get along side them, rather than opposite them.

Customer Service Tip #2

Treat your customers like human beings.

When people do business they want to interact with a human being not with a computer.

As more processes are managed by computer systems make sure that you connect with the people you do business with. Don’t let the dark forces of your systems, your policies and procedures stop you making that connection.

So when checking some one in, or verifying information, processing an order, or taking payment, take the time to make eye contact – a smile goes a long way.

Doing business by telephone? Use a verbal handshake.

Customer Service Tip #3

Listen, especially if you do business by telephone.

Your customer will tell you vital information when they first start speaking. Be present, and concentrate on the customer and what they need from you.

The best contact centre we have had the pleasure of working with for customer experience and human contact, had a Contact Centre Director who wouldn’t let people touch the computer keyboard until they understood why the customer was calling. Guess what under her amazing guidance, the contact centre was also outstanding for employee engagement as well.

The result, was that customers got a more personal call, and first time resolutions were high, because agents really understood why people were calling before they tried to solve the issue.

When we listened to the calls during quality reviews, it was really evident that callers got a better experience because the call handlers were focused on them rather than trying to access or interpret information on a computer screen.

People know instinctively when you are distracted, and even if this for a legitimate reason, it may well irritate the customer.

Customer ServiceTip #4

Get it right first time – one simple mistake can take a lot of undoing.

Check your understanding, use the phonetic alphabet to check spellings, everyone wants their name and address details spelled correctly.

Documents that are mailed to the wrong address because of an incorrect Post or Zip code. Emails that don’t arrive because of an incorrect email address.

In the age of satnav technology – sending an engineer out to an address with the wrong postcode can be an expensive mistake.

Reducing mistakes helps keep customers happy, and is good for cash flow as you have fewer invoice queries.

Check out other areas of our blog and resource centre for tips and ideas to help you have great conversations with customers. Call us on 0845 450 0988 if you’d like to talk through your customer service challenges and explore ways in which you could overcome them.