5 Tips for Good Customer Service

Customer service is the heart of any business. Even the best product in the world won’t save your company if your level of customer service is poor. One study investigated the financial cost of bad service. They concluded that businesses lose $75 billion every year because they aren’t meeting the needs of their customers.

Let’s look at the psychology of customer service so you can improve the service offered by your small business.

Be Quick

Customers believe that they are the most important people in the world, including more important than other customers. That’s why the large majority of customers expect a reply to their query in less than an hour, which most companies don’t meet.  “Speed is the essence”, said  Cebod Telecom VOIP  phone service sales manger, George Greenberg, “You can use VOIP auto attendant, SMS messages, and email replies to help your customers feel like you care about them.”

But Thoroughness is More Important

Trying to speed through customers is only going to lead to negative results. Customers don’t want to have to talk to you and you don’t want to sit there talking to customers.

The best transaction is one where a purchase happens, and no communication is needed. Customers admit this, but when they do need help they would rather have a thorough service than a quick service. In your bid to provide fast service, don’t compromise on quality.

Customers Want Simple

Ever tried to contact a customer service rep from an airline? It involves jumping through a lot of hoops. Nothing irritates customers more than having to look up how to contact a company.  Make customer service simple by actively promoting how customers can get in touch with you. Don’t make the big small business tech mistake by installing a complicated system.

A simple phone number that goes direct to your VOIP system is all you need.

Why You NEED to Provide Good Service

Let’s look at the more malicious side of the customer psychology. These days social media is king. Providing bad customer service and getting away with it isn’t going to happen anymore. Customers can and will slam you on social media, and there’s nothing you can do about it. This has been done in the past to gain refunds, special deals, and even corporate apologies. Some big companies may see it as blackmail, but that’s what you get when you don’t treat customers right. 

Make this threat clear to your customer service team.

Learn Anger

Kuanl Mittal, CEO  Cebod Telcom said,” Working as a VOIP phone service provider for small businesses, I have seen that angry customers typically don’t get good service. But instead of lashing out, put yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself what sparked this anger”.  A minor issue with a product isn’t going to set someone off 99% of the time (not counting the psychopaths). Did they have a bad day at work?  Do they have trouble moving to new technology? Were they having an argument with on of their employees? Has the car just broken down?

Be empathetic. It will help your customer servicer team to avoid treating angry customers the wrong way.

Last Word – The Basics

There are entire books on the topic of customer psychology, but we feel these are the most important points you need to know about. Use them to implement new policies and to make customers feel valued.

What’s your biggest customer service fail?