Small businesses will get an extra edge if they employ great customer service tactics across their operations. When you are a start-up or a not-so-well-known business in your field, your best bet to make a name for yourself is to have a loyal customer base who will spread the good word about you.
It may not be easy to reel customers in at the onset, but ensuring their satisfaction throughout the length of your contract or agreement with them ups your chances of earning continuous revenue from your repeat client.
There are many factors involved in executing a customer service operations package, and it is usually not a one-size-fits-all solution for every kind of business.
General guidelines may apply across the board, but once you decide that outsourcing customer support is the way to go, you will see the difference that a tailor-made business solution brings in optimizing your day-to-day operations.
Why bother?
You might be thinking: why is there a need to beef up my customer service? Business may be good as it is now, and as the saying goes, “don’t fix what isn’t broken.”
The truth is, you should start with this improvement because it has been proven that customer service continues to increase in importance. Decision-makers go for businesses with better customer service, proving that it is more important than getting a bargain when purchasing products or services.
Customers whose needs (and wants) are served remain happy. And we all know how satisfied customers spread the good things about their service providers. Investing in your customer’s needs and being with them after sales, just when it matters, will be mutually beneficial for you and them.
5 Best Practices Small Business Owners Should Know
Grow your company by investing in customer service outsourcing. Here are some ideas, tools, and best practices that you can apply in your business if you are planning to get your customer service right.
1. Arm yourself with customer service tools made for your small business.
There are free tools available used by small businesses and bigger companies alike to reach customers. Facebook offers Fan Pages or Business Pages that allow brands to engage with their customers. Instagram is another platform where image-heavy advertising thrives.
The key to using social media right is to figure out which social sites your target demographic use. This is where you can engage with them.
More large-scale digital operations may rely on customer relationship management (CRM) systems like Salesforce, enabling many business websites to go up and running. CRMs can streamline various business aspects like marketing, sales, and operations.
What’s more, CRM systems can always be customized to fit specific business needs. Programmers and developers may integrate applications or features into the system for a holistic customer management experience specific to your business’ needs.
Help desk applications on your main website like Zendesk make it easier to create service tickets needed to help resolve customer issues faster. Chat functionalities may also be integrated into CRM systems, but getting a help desk application with chat features will allow you to have it on your website, too. Paying for chat software like LiveChat will also help you reach out to customers faster.
2. Organize your reporting system so you could zero-in on specific client servicing issues.
Review your customer service reports regularly. Check your daily, weekly, or monthly data via your CRM system, and take note of these three main types of case reports often used in various companies:
- Complaints Report – Employees log complaints into the system for filing reports. Details like names, the complaint, and plan of action are usually included in such reports.
- Glitch Report – These do not necessarily fall under complaints but may contain issues clients have with your offerings.
- Time-to-Close Report – A type of report that shows how long it takes to resolve client concerns. Goal-setting is integral to optimize your operations.
3. Consistently perform well by investing in customer service training
No matter how advanced your CRM, task, or data management systems are, employees not trained to use them per your requirements will damage your business efficiency.
Aside from software training and basic human resource orientations, you may contribute to their professional growth by having them take small business training courses and workshops. You can also partner with organizations that have small business mentors who can coach you and your team as you move forward.
Close observation of your support team also necessitates offering genuine, constructive, on-the-spot feedback while in action so that they know their stand should there be a situation that calls for not playing by the book.
4. Build a knowledge resource center for customer service teams at work
Creating a library of customer FAQs can guide your customer service agents on dealing with the most common problems encountered by clients. By doing this, your support team can function like a well-oiled machine, allowing frictionless movement, from report gathering to executing solutions.
5. Make a good first impression
Customers can now check reviews online easily and then jump into a competitor’s website with just a few clicks. Motivate your support agents to bring their A-game, most especially when it comes to new customers, so you make a good, lasting impression.
Consider outsourcing customer service
In-house customer service might incur more out-of-pocket expense in the long run, especially if you do not know how to efficiently use tools and systems that you have purchased to streamline your operations.
Choose carefully among customer service companies, as having non-performing support teams can damage your company. Narrow down your options and test their services before committing to ensure that you are getting the desired results.
