Many businesses yearn for improved customer service. They agree on the importance thereof and yet many of them lack a strategy that sets them up for success. Through our research, we have identified nine key aspects that the best of the best have in common.
To set your business up for customer service success you need a strategy that:
Makes the customer the centre of everything
Customer centric
Your strategy must be aligned with what your customers really needs, wants, desires and values. It is of critical importance to not guess or assume that you know what your customer wants, because this forms the foundation of a business strategy set up for success.
Often businesses land in trouble because they assume that their customers’ needs are unchanged and will never change. Emphasis should be on both external and internal customers (colleagues).
Sustainable business
A business must be profitable to be sustainable. Two important success factors come into play here; firstly your strategy must be built around what your target market is willing to pay for.
Secondly, you have a responsibility to organise and apply your resources in the most effective and optimal manner to avoid wasting time and money unnecessarily. This will in turn ensure that you maximise your profit.
The most successful businesses include an aspect in their strategy that focusses on getting the right people together and enabling them to contribute to their full potential.
If someone in your organisation has a brilliant idea that could save you half a million rand, would you not want to know about it?
Many businesses miss out on amazing opportunities, because they fail to address this aspect in their strategy.
Creates the type of stories customers can’t wait to tell other’s about… Without you even having to ask.
Attention to detail
Your customers come into contact with hundreds of suppliers and service providers every single week. Do you really stand out in their minds for the right reasons?
Our research has clearly highlighted the undisputable fact that businesses who pay attention to the little things are the ones that are delighting their customers, turning them into loyal fans that are excited to share their experiences, recommend you to their family, friends and colleagues and who cannot wait to come back for more.
Creates epic fans from epic fails
As hard as we try to achieve and maintain perfection, the reality is that something is likely to go wrong some time or another.
Your strategy should provide clear guidance on how these unfortunate incidents can be utilised to your advantage. This aspect is of cardinal importance to build and maintain trust with prospective and current customers.
Consistently improves not only customer satisfaction, but also business results
Practical, implementable action plan
Ideas by themselves do not make businesses better. Without implementation you will not be able to see progress or enjoy improved results. If this is not done in a manner that is practical for your business, it will not be maintained.
Reduced customer complaints
Potential issues must be anticipated and either avoided or at least mitigated. When issues occur, corrective and preventative action should follow to avoid a recurrence.
Customer feedback should regularly be analysed to highlight patterns. This information must be used for decision making and to activate improvement actions.
Improves customer satisfaction
- Do you currently measure customer satisfaction?
- Is it providing you with proof that you are indeed giving customers less of what they do not want and more of what they want?
- Will they keep coming back to you for more?
You should have a visible dashboard to warn you when you need to adapt your course if you wish to reach your desired destination.
Increase sales
Your customer service strategy (or lack thereof) will impact on your sales pipeline, whether you want to sell other products or services in your portfolio to current customers or get new customers on board.
How does your customer service strategy rate on the above scorecard? Are you set up for success?