No business can survive without customers. Customers keep businesses alive by bringing revenue and increasing profits. That is why all successful businesses are more and more aware of the importance of delivering a great customer experience to all their potential and existing clients. Smart companies know that this is the best way to earn customers, earn more customers and keep old customers loyal and engaged.
Potential customers first come into contact with a company’s profile face to face or by phone. Especially for the latter scenario (but not exclusively), it is very important to know how to approach them and keep them engaged and interested. Also, it is important not to mistake customer service with customer experience. The first one is just a component of CX (customer experience). A good customer service is when you properly and successfully cater to one of your client’s needs. A good customer experience is when you go beyond solving their issues or taking care of their request and when you bring a little more to the table, such as surprise them by addressing their request earlier than promised, or by offering a free upgrade or a bonus.
Here are some strategies to help you improve your overall customer experience in your business:
- Pay attention when choosing your customer support employees. Your customer support staff is the one that is going to interact with your clients the most and will be responsible for creating a beneficial image of your company (or not). If customers will have a great customer experience, that will show up in the success of your business. It is important to choose people that have great social and communication skills, are emphatic, calm and patient. Also strive to enhance all these skills through regular trainings and cultivate work ethic and your team’s knowledge of the products and services you’re offering
- Keep your staff motivated. Your team might have all the necessary skills in the world, but if they are not motivated and happy with their job, they will never bother to rise up to their full potential. It is up to you to keep them engaged, offer constant incentives and keep their eagerness levels up. Listen to their problems and requirements and perhaps create an anonymous suggestion box or surveys to find out if there are things they are not pleased with or what measures you can take to improve their working conditions
- Learn who your customers are and give the knowledge further to your staff. Help you customer reps to better understand who they will be dealing with. Create customer profiles or personas to help your staff recognize patterns and types of customers, so they’ll know how to approach each type in the best way
- Be emphatic and connect with your clients. It is true that it is often not WHAT you are saying, but HOW you deliver the message. Try to create an emotional connection with your customers, be emphatic to their problems and show that you care about their personal problems and needs. Studies clearly show that companies that establish an emotional connection with their clients increase their sales with up to 85%
- Allow your customers to give feedback. Surveys are a good way to do that and they can be implemented at the end of any phone call for instance. Surveys are a smart way to learn useful things about your clients: how they see you, what kind of impression they’ve created and what their expectations and needs are. By knowing what they want, you can adapt accordingly and deliver the expected results, which can only be good for business.