Focus on People to Support Your Customers
Last week, I hosted a live Q&A on behalf of a client where I video-answered their colleague’s questions about Digital Customer Service. It’s not the first time that I have done it, but it’s always exciting dealing ‘live’ with questions that you don’t know in advance. In this case, my customers were the participants of the webinar. And they were all hungry for useful information and tips to improve relationships with their customers. If you have the same goal are sure you’re working on the right priorities?
Give Conversations Priority
Words can be very powerful – especially when it comes to customer service. Whatever your ultimate goal, you’ll get useful insights and feedback from engaging in conversations with your customers. That is regardless of the channel you’re using to provide support.
Even though your brand’s tone of voice has to be consistent, you need to adjust it slightly to each customer’s approach. This technique, called mirroring, is very useful when you deliver your first written response. Mirroring your customer’s tone lets them know you understand them and helps you close the conversation while lowering the number of interactions. In this brief video by HelpScout, you’ll find a nice example.
Related: how to turn customer conversations into sales opportunities.
Focus on People
You need to focus on people, starting from your support agents, because they have the initial conversations with customer and prospects. Remember that they are your voice since they speak on behalf of your brand. And customers don’t think in terms of departments. Everybody they speak to is representing your brand and they will judge you according to three main principles:
- IF (did you / didn’t solve my issue) → customers want solutions.
- WHEN (did you save / waste my time) → time is the new currency.
- HOW (did you treat me well / badly ) → as kindness is taken for granted, you need to go far beyond the average standard.
Organizations that underestimate these crucial aspects make a big mistake. In fact, underneath the three points just mentioned above may lie a strategic area to be improved:
- Efficiency – Q. Are you currently meeting customers’ expectations?
- Timeliness – Q. Are you providing quick responses on every support channel you’re using?
- Relationship – Q. Are your support staff able to build empathy with customers?
Take care of all three elements if you want to bring your customer service to the next level.
Over to you
Your customers and your support team paths are intertwined every day. So do focus on people to satisfy both of them. Start from within by engaging and empowering your staff so that they’ll be motivated to consistently deliver excellent customer service.
Have great conversations.
You may also want to read: How to Respond to Happy and Unhappy Customers on Social Media
Why Great Customer Service is Invaluable In Marketing
Use Social Customer Service To Nurture Your Business
Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_stocking‘ / 123RF Stock Photo
Paolo Fabrizio
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