Michael Epps Utley {kind=image/jpg}
In today’s world of cut-throat competition, businesses must deliver stellar customer service. Anything less will cause buyers to seek out alternatives, especially those known for treating people well. This checklist reveals the most common customer service mistakes companies make and what you can do to avoid them.
Forgetting That Customers Come First
Satisfying customer needs while delivering a delightful buying experience should be the top priority of everyone on your team.
The issue: When under performance pressure, sales and customer service reps often focus more on achieving goals than on people’s needs. Pushing shoppers through the sales process too quickly — or trying to sell them goods and services they don’t need — is a common customer service blunder.
Make it your company’s mission to care about consumers first and always. Doing so is a sure way to generate sales and earn repeat business.
Not Having a Customer Service Leader
You can’t deliver a great end-to-end customer experience without someone to guide it. Creating and maintaining a superior, coordinated buyer journey requires someone with the vision to map it out and the diligence to ensure all aspects are delivered as intended. No effort can be successful without a talented, experienced, and committed person at the helm.
Not Being Proactive
Customer support and customer success differ from one another on a fundamental level. Customer support is about reacting to questions and issues. Customer success involves taking preemptive steps to prevent problems. Focusing on customer success beyond mere customer service is a value-adding strategy because it helps consumers avoid a bad experience from the beginning — no matter how well a service issue is resolved, you never want people to go through one if you can prevent it.
Of course, it’s challenging to run a small business, and customer service issues are bound to pop up (issues that you’ll need to resolve). That’s why it makes sense to carve out time with your customer service and sales reps to brainstorm potential issues and steps to avoid them.
Over-Engaging With Your Customers
Too much customer interaction doesn’t necessarily result in a better customer experience. If you over-engage with buyers, whether in conversations, through social media, or in email, you risk annoying them rather than helping them. Over-engagement often stems from uncertainty or insecurity about customer needs or interactions. Sometimes, a silent customer is a satisfied one. Provide enough prompts to stay present with buyers, but not too many to turn them off.
Not Setting Clear Expectations
If you fail to set buyer expectations for things like delivery time, returns policies, and fees, they will set their own — and theirs may be far different than yours, resulting in disappointment if these expectations are not met. For instance, if your delivery timeframe is one week, state it clearly and strive to beat it. It will leave a good impression and prevent issues with people who might expect two-day delivery.
Learn more: Find out how to use information from customers to improve your business.
Customer Service Silos
Everyone touching your customer experience must be in constant communication. Your sales, marketing, and customer service teams must meet regularly and share data. It’s the only way to ensure a seamless buyer journey and maintain a cohesive brand. Any disconnects in it could result in an unsatisfying experience and customer complaints.
One-Size-Fits-All Customer Service
Creating a formulaic approach that fits everyone’s needs may save time and effort. However, you’ll end up with customers with different issues receiving the same guidance, which could result in confusion, frustration, or worse.
Personalization is a critical part of meeting buyer needs. Your customer service team must treat each person and their needs and issues as unique, responding to them as individuals. This personal approach makes people feel heard and valued, which could transform a customer service issue into a delightful outcome.
Selling to the Wrong Buyers
It can be tempting to push to sell more to earn additional revenue. However, it can be a disaster if you sell more of the wrong stuff to less-than-ideal people.
Bad-fit buyers can become terrible news for businesses. They rarely come away feeling good about purchasing something they didn’t need. They’re often the most significant customer service nightmares because people feel used.
Always focus your sales of goods and services on the people they’re intended for. If you must bring in more cash, develop new solutions for the people you’re targeting or aim for a new buyer base.
Long Response Times
When customers have issues, they want answers now — not later. Keeping people waiting makes things worse. Long customer service wait times frustrate people and make them more irate, making them likely to lash out on social media and rating and review sites.
Constantly monitor your customer service response times. Try to keep them under two minutes (often viewed as the maximum time people will tolerate).
Give Customers What They Want
You won’t succeed without satisfied customers. Leveraging these proven tactics will help you avoid customer service issues and leave unhappy buyers feeling satisfied when they do happen.
