Customer service is certainly one of the most important aspects of any business. Today's business world is a very competitive environment, and when competition over such vital areas as the quality of your services or goods, price, and other factors are very similar, customer service can be the deciding factor in who gets a customer's business. For instance, customers will support one restaurant over another, go to one auto dealer over another, or buy one brand of television over another because of the customer service experiences they've had in the past. Even if your product or service is top-notch, poor customer service can be an absolute deal breaker.
It is also worth noting that good customer service is not only important for attracting new customers, but also for retaining those that you already have. Research has shown that it costs much more to attract new customers than it does to retain current customers, so your focus should be to build on a consistent loyal customer base over time. You can't do that if you have sub-par customer service, though.
With all this in mind, it is helpful to know just how you can improve the quality of telephone-based customer service that your business offers. In the traditional business world, we would always deal with customers face-to-face, where it is much easier to pick up on non-verbal cues, show empathy when there is a problem, and give the customer the feeling that they are important to the company. However, in a fast-paced world, more and more customer service is taking place over the telephone, and companies have had to adapt.
In the world of telephone customer service, you have to be much more careful with things such as your tone of voice. With nothing else to go on but the sound of your voice, a customer can easily misinterpret your tone as one of disinterest, apathy, or even contempt. In personal encounters, your facial expressions and body language could offset what might otherwise be seen as a somewhat unpleasant or disinterested tone of voice. If anything, you should remember that subtleties are much more important in phone conversations with customers.
Another similar thing to remember is that while you are on the phone with a customer, your word choice is very important. Good companies spend a lot of time developing everything from basic guidelines for telephone representatives to full-blown scripts to ensure that their employees are always giving the impression that they want them to give. Of course, you must tailor these guidelines and rules to the type of business that you have. If formality is very important, it may be good to have your representatives refer to clients as "sir" or "ma'am", for example. If a personal approach is more desired, you can have representatives ask if they may use their client's first name early in the conversation.
Finally, you must ensure that representatives are quick and efficient in terms of serving the customer during phone calls. Even more so than when customer service is done in person, customers expect their issues to be resolved in a fast manner when they call for help on their home phone, office phone or cell phone. People are busy these days, and they often are multi-tasking during calls or calling in-between important tasks or appointments. They may be calling during their lunch break, too. Show that you value the customer's time by being organized and efficient.
Though there are some differences between phone-based customer service and traditional face-to-face customer service, there are similarities, too. Value the customer's time, show that you share their concerns, and address their problems in a satisfactory way and you will find that your company can grow at a faster rate.
Author Resource:
At http://jnoassc.com, we provide comprehensive customer experience management to help telecommunications companies maintain high standards of service ,provide clients in the financial community with a competitive edge in customer satisfaction and retention, as well as highly professional and effective third-party collection services and offer Collection services for Debt Buyers and Asset Management Companies.
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