Empower your team ahead of customer’s frustration

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 Empowering team members: How can I help you?

Despite acknowledging the importance of good customer service, many businesses still subscribe to the opinion that service incurs business cost. However, what’s important here is to realize that good customer service is more like an investment that can help drive business growth. Hiring quality talent, and ensuring they have the right skills, training and tools enables them to empathize with customers and actively listen to them. This is the key to providing a consistently good service experiences.

Without proper tools and resources, your team may not feel empowered enough to effectively resolve customer queries or respond appropriately to their frustrations. As much as you want your teammates to empathize with your customers’ problems, you need to first look at serving your own team members and empathize with them.

Therefore, it’s a good practice to turn the tables on your teammates and ask them, whether in a group discussion or a while having a one-on-one conversation: “How can I help you?”

What’s also important, is to listen to their suggestions and then act on them. Have an in-depth discussion on every view of theirs, no matter how small you insignificant you feel they may be. If they want you to know about it, then it is a big deal to them. And if it’s a big deal to them, it ought to be a big deal to you!

Identify any training needs that your support members may have. There are well designed customer service training programs available out there that focus on improving communication, listening, problem solving and analytical skills. Training all your agents on a predetermined set of competencies equips them with the right mindset and a standard process to deal with customers and builds a sense of team spirit.

Fix Your Processes to Avoid Moments of Misery

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Moment of misery can also be referred to negative customer service issues actually gives you the opportunity to bring out your best customer service.

Your inner risk manager should be working overtime to identify what could go wrong in your business and how to prevent it.
The following questions could resolve or prevent negative customer service issues.

1. How will you handle the problem for the customer? Map out an immediate solution and deliver it with the right attitude and a sense of urgency that will restore the customer’s confidence in you.

2. Analyze the source of the problem to determine why it happened.

3. Has this problem happened before? If it has, why has it recurred? Analyze why to prevent, or at least minimize, the chances of it happening again.Your inner risk manager should be working overtime to identify what could go wrong in your business and how to prevent it.

4. If this is the first time the problem or mistake has occurred, determine what you can do to prevent it from happening again. (See next question.)

5. Can a process prevent the issue from recurring? This is the follow-up to question No. 4. If you can establish a process to prevent the problem from recurring, it will serve you well.

6. Can you catch the problem before the customer catches it and calls you? Have a system in place to fix the problem before the customer contacts your company or let the customer know about the issue before he finds out on his own. Be proactive.

7. Which parties are involved in preventing this problem from recurring? Determine the stakeholders responsible for eliminating the problem and what their tasks should be to resolve the issue.

Customer Service Power: 3 water companies face penalty after 2 million complaints

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Report has it that, CCWater’s annual report shows households made more than 2.1 million calls to resolve problems last year.

Three water companies have been warned by a watchdog to improve their customer service as almost half of providers in England and Wales reported an increase in calls to resolve problems last year.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) has asked Bristol Water, Surrey-based SES Water and Southern Water to provide quarterly reports highlighting the action they are taking to reduce complaints following their “relatively poor” performance.

CCWater’s annual report shows households made more than 2.1 million calls to resolve problems last year.
Southern Water has been asked to provide quarterly reports for a third successive year despite reducing written complaints by a fifth.

Bristol Water reported a 37% increase in “unwanted contacts” from customers to resolve problems and a 52% increase in written complaints, while SES Water reported a 21% rise in unwanted contacts.
Nine out of 21 water companies in England and Wales reported an increase in calls from customers to resolve problems, while four companies reported an increase in written complaints.

These goes to show that you should learn to report an unhealthy services or bad product.

The first thing you need to do is go to the company website and write Customer Service a letter explaining what happened. Don’t go in expecting a lot, but if you received rude service they will probably apologise and offer you some sort of discount to entice you back in.  If there is no Customer service, write to the manager or CEO. Direct your complaint to whoever is listed on the site and let them know specifically what happened, when it happened, and where it happened.  Many times problems can be resolved without a lot of fuss.

Boy leaves teddy bear at hotel – and what staff do next is amazing

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Image result for teddy bear

So a mum shared sweet photographs of her little son’s missing toys after hotel staff sent the cuddly pair on a series of adventures.

The bear and seal, which were left behind at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa in Hawaii, have gone viral after British mum Anna Pickard shared their journey online.

After emailing the hotel to ask if cleaning staff had found the much missed duo, she was treated to a series of pictures of them receiving five-star care before their journey home.

Anna, who works as creative director at Slack, a business communication tool, posted the heartwarming tale on Twitter yesterday.

The Mirror

Man to produce ID before he can purchase a bottle water

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A 20 year old man, Joshua Tacey was asked to show his ID for a bottle of water at an Esso BP petrol station in Eastern England.

Joshua, pulled over at the garage at 1pm today to grab his girlfriend, Lizzie Turvey, a drink as she was feeling unwell.

But the cashier demanded he proved he was 18 in order purchase the water, Lincolnshire Live says.

The Mirror reports that Tacey in his narration said: “I walked into the BP garage to get my poorly girlfriend a Smart Water and then put in on the counter and she looked at me asking for my ID.

“I laughed and woman behind me laughed with confusion.

“I thought at first it was a joke but she was actually being serious, so I said: ‘you’re joking aren’t you?’ and said: ‘no, but I will let you off this time.'”

Mr Tacey was dumbfounded after his experience at the petrol station near Thorpe on the Hill, Lincolnshire.

The motorist, of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, continued: “I just find it ridiculous that you have to show identification for water.

“I have heard [about people being ID’d] about energy drinks but not water.

“It’s getting really pathetic now, What if we had the really hot summer like last year and a kid walks in asking for water but can’t because he or she isn’t the correct age?”

In summary he was asked to provide his ID because
Smart Water contains electrolytes, which are also found in energy drinks.

Customer Service Perception Is Fact!

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When we talk about a customer service perception being a fact, we mean, a marketing concept that encompasses a customer’s impression, awareness and/or consciousness about a company or its offerings. Simply put, customer perception is what your customers and potential customers think of your organization.
This is affected by advertising, reviews, public relations, social media, personal experiences and other channels.

Consumers don’t purchase products primarily for their functions, instead they buy a product for the perceived benefit he will gain from it. This perceived benefit, in addition to his opinion of the product, are what create customer perceived value.

The fact is, when making a purchase, a customer values a product’s benefit higher than its function.

While customer perceived value is figured using perceived costs, these costs don’t necessarily mean money. Price is not the most important thing in determining a customer’s perceived value. However, it does play a role. There are ways to increase a customer’s perceived value when tackling a product’s price

Then another way to change a customer’s perceived value of a product through pricing is by changing the unit of measurement from money to other things that the same amount of money could buy.

In conclusion, one of the most effective ways to increase a customer’s perceived value is to appeal to his emotions or values. In order to do so, it’s important to know what types of things your customer might appreciate. Feel free to drop your own tips.

CSM

Give the Gift of Presence: Build Trust

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It is very hard to build trust with your customer and very easy to loose the trust they have for you. So the first step is communication.

Really, communication is a key to any good relationship, communication is an essential way to build customer relationships.

As a key to any good relationship, communication is an essential way to build customer relationships. Promoting your business and listening to your customers are equally important.

Rather than just telling customers about your business, have conversations with them. Find out what your customers need, then show them that you have a solution to their problem.

Then always remember to ask for feedback: Whether customers have a good or bad opinion about your business, they will make their feelings known. Invite customer feedback to show you are listening. Place comment cards on your business counter, or conduct a survey.

Do you know that, customer’s feedback helps you sharpen your customers’ specific needs so you can find the best solutions to their problems. The better your offering meets their needs, the more your business will grow.

Best you take Your Customer Service from Good to Great

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Very obvious that, we have all seen companies that are terrible at customer service.
The key to building a great company is discipline, consistency and building growth in daily increments.
Everything at every level within the organization is about servicing the customer the best way possible.

It isn’t that these organizations think the customer isn’t right. In some instances, it’s as if the customer doesn’t count.
To be great, customer service should be the defining and driving force within a business. It starts at the top and inculcates the organization from top to bottom and side to side

If you have ideas you feel like sharing that might be helpful to readers, share them in the comments section below. Thanks!

Below are ways to move your customer service from Good to Great

Step 1: Striving for Level 5 Leadership?

Step 2: Getting the right people on the bus

Step 3: Face up to the brutal facts

Step 4: Are you building a clock or just telling the time?

Step 5: Fire off small bullets before you launch a cannonball. This means you should Fire off some rounds, see where they land, and then adjust your aim.

Building an effective customer service culture in an organization

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Management must first imbibe a customer centric culture which recognizes the significance of the customer in all operations so much that even departments that do not interact with them are also focused on the customer, delivering the best service from product design to launch.

In customer service “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” -Sam Walton

Forward thinking organizations allocate a robust budget on research just to gain as much information about their customers so that they can provide them with suitable products and services.

Apart from seeking for their customers’ wants, tastes, motivations and how buying decisions are made, they create marketing campaigns to drive purchase of these products.

All these efforts are because customers are the lifeblood of a business. No customer, no business! Customers bring in the revenue that keeps the business afloat-employees get salaries; government get taxes, etc.

At the same time, they could bring loss to a business because of their ability to boycott and influence others to do so especially with the power of social media.

For instance, last year Snapchat, (a global mobile multi messaging app used to share short lasting pictures or videos) was reported to have lost almost two billion dollars when on different occasions, Kylie Jenner and Rihanna influenced a boycott, one over dissatisfaction and the other over offensive advertisement. Customers have so much power now than ever before.

Recent research on customer behavior reports that an unsatisfied customer will tell up to fifteen people about their experience. And, the reason for customer churn out is not mainly price, but poor service.

Customers also bring good deed because when happy, their referrals and recommendations result in multiple customers, making for expansion and even more revenue streams.

A business that aims to remain vibrant for a very long time must take its customers very seriously, and this goes beyond solving complaints, or about its representatives being friendly.

Disrupt Your Competition with Customer Service

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In customer service, the concept of disruption is interesting. If you ask most business people to name a company that is known for being a disrupter, you’ll hear answers like Amazon, Uber and Walmart.

Walmart disrupted local businesses when they came into a community. Uber disrupted the taxi-cab industry. And, Amazon started out disrupting bookstores and eventually moved on to disrupting the entire retail world.

While the companies just mentioned are household names, you don’t have to be a big company to disrupt. You can be a tiny company. Disruption is not about disrupting an industry. It’s about disrupting your competition. Doing something that is so noticeable that it pulls customers to you. So, here are five ways you can compete – and disrupt – your competition:

  1. Stop comparing yourself to your competitors – This is a big one. Start comparing yourself to the best customer service companies you do business with. Today’s customers know what great customer service looks like. The companies and individuals who deliver amazing service set the benchmark for everyone.
  2. Be amazing on social media – Social media is meant to be social. And, when it comes to customer service, it’s not just about responding to complaints. It’s an extension of your marketing and allows you to connect with your “community. It’s an extension of your marketing. Be appropriately bold and visible.
  3. Respond quickly to every customer inquiry or comment – A quick response time can make a customer say, “Wow!” It shows you care, that you’re paying attention and that you want to do business. A quick response time creates confidence, which is one of the keys to creating customer loyalty.
  4. Embrace technology – There are some awesome technologies out there that allow you to better connect with your customers and provide them a better customer experience. Something as simple as a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program can help you keep track of your customers, what they have bought in the past and any issues they have had.
  5. Be Convenient – We’ll wrap up this list with a powerful concept that may be the biggest disruption strategy today. The concept of convenience is the new wave of customer service. There are many ways to be convenient for your customer. Call your customer. Don’t make them call you. Go to your customer. Don’t make them come to you. Have business hours that are focused on your customers’ schedules, not just yours. Make doing business with you easy. All things being equal, the company that is more convenient to do business with, wins…….You can reach out to Customer Service Mediator company via mail for quick answers to their most common questions. There are many new technologies coming down the pike, but keep in mind the technology needs to make your customers’ lives better – not just yours.