This archive report was first published on 7 October 2021.
20 Expert Customer Service Tips To Try Right Now ¶
Published on October 7, 2021, by Micah Solomon, a customer service consultant and bestselling author, these 20 expert tips will help you improve customer service and experience in your organization.
First impressions matter, and it's essential to consider how your customers perceive your establishment, whether it's a physical location or an online presence. A customer's perception is their reality, and a first impression can linger in their memory.
- Walk up to and into your establishment with the eye of a customer.
- Consider the route to your establishment, as Disney does, to create a positive first impression.
Impressions before the first impression matter, too. Your online presence, grounds, and overall appearance can create a lasting impression on your customers.
Last impressions matter, as they can erase all the goodwill you've created. The 'goodbye' is an essential stage, and it's crucial to make a positive last impression.
- Don't rush to the next customer; take the time to ensure a smooth goodbye.
Are you easy to use? Try your own website without auto-login to see if it's user-friendly. Come in the front door and see if the door swings open easily.
Do you offer self-service options for your customers? Many customers want them today, and it's essential to provide options for customers who want to handle things themselves.
- Offer self-service options, such as FAQs, to help customers find answers quickly.
Do your self-service options include escape hatches? For when the self-service isn't working or the customer isn't in the mood, there should be an easy way out to reach a human.
Do your customers have to ask you to answer questions for which the answer should be obvious? Customers don't like to be burdened to contact you for items that could easily be provided on a self-service basis.
- Make sure your FAQs include the questions that customers want the answers to.
Timeliness is a big deal. Are you considerate of your customer's time? A perfect product or service delivered late is a defect.
Commit to continuous customer service education. Education is an investment in organizational development, and it's essential to stay up-to-date on the latest customer service trends and best practices.
Get rid of the fine print. To a customer, fine print is where a company hides something that will protect them from a dissatisfied customer. Better to fix it than hide it.
Define a simple service recovery process. Things will go wrong, and you need a plan to handle them. Consider my ARFFD approach, for example.
Consider the feedback you receive from your customers as 'free customer service consulting.' This is information of great value, not an interruption of your day.
Reward and recognize your employees' contributions. Acknowledge the value of hiring people who like people and treating them like professionals every single day.
Benchmark outside your industry. If you sell furniture, don't just benchmark other players in the furniture industry. Your customers' expectations come from great consumer brands like Starbucks and Apple.
Commit to continuous improvement. Ask yourself at the end of the day, 'What is the thing you are going to do tomorrow to make your team better?'
Language matters. Actively work on the language used in customer interactions to ensure you're saying the right thing.
Standards matter. For example, a doorman at a great hotel is rarely blindsided by a guest trying to enter while the doorman's back is turned. How can that be? Standards.
Empowerment matters. You can't write a standard for every eventuality. Your employees need autonomy to deviate from it if the case, the customer, requires a different approach.
Fight actively against getting in a rut. The principle of hedonic adaptation means that your hundredth day on the job will not be as intense as the first day. This is good to some extent, but it means you have to actively strive to remember that this same day is the first interaction your customer has had with your company.
