Excellent customer service is the backbone of any successful venture. Consumers expect a lot from the businesses they shop with – and rightly so. Being good to all customers, both in good and bad situations, is necessary to build relationships with them. Without this relationship, you can’t possibly earn their loyalty. A bad customer service experience will impact your business greatly, costing hundreds. With that in mind, here are six customer service mistakes to avoid.
Having Too Few Employees
Every business, with a little luck, will face busy periods. Sales in toy stores typically skyrocket around Christmastime, while accountants face a rush at tax season. However, you must never allow your quality of customer service to drop. Employing seasonal staff will ensure that all customers get served in a reasonable time. Never rush the hiring process, even with temps.
Missing Out Staff Training
Customer service workers won’t deliver great service unless they know how to. Regardless of whether you manage three or three hundred employees, you must give training to each of them. To equip workers with the skills and knowledge they require, this training must always be an ongoing and dynamic process. Outsourcing training to an expert is best if you’re busy yourself.
Keeping A Customer Waiting
Much larger brands have raised expectations of how quickly products can be delivered. That means that your company must do everything it can to keep up. When an order is placed, you should make it clear that you’ve received it, by sending a netsuite sales order, for example. Automating company processes will not only lower costs but reduce the likelihood of delays too.
Hiding Any Contact Details
Social media, live chat, and other platforms have transformed customer-business relationships. Having most companies offering such convenience means that customers become frustrated when another doesn’t do the same. If you don’t display contact details or try to hide them, you will lose business. Having no contact details suggests that you don’t care about customer problems.
Making Returns Quite Hard
There are numerous reasons why a customer might wish to make a return. Sometimes, the product they’ve purchased is faulty, while on other occasions, it simply won’t meet their needs. Although fraud is a serious concern for companies, you should make customers jump through hoops to get a refund. You’ll benefit much more from relaxing elements of your returns policy.
Deleting Bad Customer Reviews
Reading negative feedback from customers definitely isn’t enjoyable. However, that isn’t a good enough excuse to delete it. Responding to negative comments is much more productive. By apologizing for any mistakes made and suggesting ways the business could do better, you show that you care about customers. Deleting bad reviews will only ever drive customers away.
Loyal, happy customers are essential to the survival of any business. Being a main source of income, you need customers to make purchases, or you can’t cover your overheads. There are countless ways to keep customers happy, but many companies make mistakes instead. Avoiding doing the same will make the success of your venture much more likely.
