What do you think of when you hear the term “Customer Service”? The first things that come to my mind are retail jobs and call centres. But, if you think about it, pretty much everything that you do at work on a daily basis will involve some sort of customer service. (This, of course would not include people who work for the same company as you, companies that provide you with a service like telephones, or places you purchase from.) Any time you interact with someone who might purchase a service or product from you is a potential customer, and customer service is all about giving customers the feeling that what they’ve received has met or exceeded their expectations.
But why is customer service so important?
Have you ever had an unsatisfactory experience with a company? It can be quite damaging to that company. Say you purchase some raw material from a company that you need to use in your manufacturing plant. The material that you received isn’t quite what you expected, so you call the company up and see if things can be fixed. If the company you purchased from isn’t willing to work with you to fix what has happened, would you be as willing to purchase from them again knowing that if you have another problem they probably would act in the same way that they did this time? Probably not. On the other hand, if they help you fix the problem, you would be more likely to want to deal with that company again – it shows a willingness on their part to make sure that your expectations as a customer are met.
What are some things that can be done to make sure your customer service will guarantee your customers return to you if they aren’t happy with your product or service?
Firstly, make sure you actually listen to your customers. What did they expect from your product or service? How is this different from what they ended up getting? How would they like you to fix this?
Secondly, commit yourself to remedying what may be wrong with your product or service. Let your customers know that you are committed to doing this, and if there is any action on your part that needs to be done actually follow through and do it.
Thirdly, look at the customer complaints over a period of time. Are there things that customers are continuously unhappy about? Maybe you should focus some time on fixing that problem before the product or service goes out to the customers.
What do you do to make sure customers are happy with your products and services?