What is Excellent Customer Service? How to Provide

Customer service is the support you provide to your customers in terms of using your products or services both before and after-sales.

Why Customer Service is Important?

When were you last dissatisfied with a product or service you bought?

Maybe no one answered the customer service number.

Maybe the company did not want to fulfil the promised guarantees, it took the business to the slope.

Often these are two cases, and these point to poor customer service. If customer service is bad, it can be said that there is only money in the focus of a company, not a customer.

According to the eMarketer site, successful customer service is especially important for small companies.

But why do not many companies pay due attention to customer service? It can be said that the word “customer is always right” is not valid, and now companies see customers as their ties. But if there is no customer, the company has no meaning. After all, it is the money of customers who keep the company alive.

Therefore, measuring your customer satisfaction and meeting their demands is the debt of your neck as a company.

Moreover, what causes customers to be dissatisfied are largely correctable and improvable. In this context, listening to what customers are saying is one of the most ideal things a company should do.

The only thing you need to do is to treat all customers well and caring. Remember, successful customer service is the best and cheapest marketing method. People want to come back to where they are satisfied.

The happy and satisfied customer will also recommend you to their friends. Thus, while you have 1 customer, you have 5 customers at a time. But the opposite is also true. A dissatisfied customer does not recommend you to friends. Thus, many people who want to shop from you also come back from their decision.

Let’s look at the sine qua non of a successful customer service.

How Successful Customer Service Should Be: 10 Key Elements

Providing successful customer service is one of the main issues that set you apart from your competitors. So no matter how low your prices are, if your customer service is bad, you will have a low chance of holding a customer.

The opposite is also true. If your customer service is good even though your prices are high, people will want to shop from you again.

So let’s look at the features that a successful customer service should have.

1. Be Available.

Customers should be able to reach you when they call. For this reason, you should always respond to the customers’ phones, e-mails and messages sent via social media. You should be able to reach you through all communication channels. However, try to focus on several platforms anyway. So if you have 10 social media accounts, it will be difficult for you to catch up with each one. For this reason, it is a good idea to indicate that you are communicating via phone, e-mail and Facebook.

2. Answer in Time.

You should make it a rule to return incoming phones and mails within 24 hours at the latest. If you cannot do this, you can ask your customer the most appropriate time frame and offer to communicate in this time period.

3. Listen to Customers.

Customers want their words to be listened to, just like everyone else. Therefore, when talking to customers, listen to their problems first and do not go to defense immediately. First try to understand what is what.

4. Be Respectful.

Never talk to customers in a rough, unbuttoned style. Treat all your customers equally and respectfully. Yes, you may be having a bad day as a customer representative, but this is not the customer’s problem. Therefore, you should have a certain stand and do not compromise this standard.

5. Don’t Fight With The Customer.

Never argue with the customer. Do not do this even if you are right. Because if you win the quarrel, this time you will alienate the customer and lose forever. So try to get it from the bottom, explain possible solutions. But never get into the discussion.

6. Fulfill Your Responsibilities.

Fulfill your commitments as a company. If you have given a 2-year warranty when selling the product, follow this period. If you said you would be answered, reply to the mail. Irresponsibility, pouring matchstick into the root of all kinds of relationships, in an ambiance.

7. Stop at Your Word.

Follow your promise in a similar manner to the above item. Take concrete steps to fulfill what you have promised. No one believes only in words.

8. Pay Attention to Customer Relations.

If you evolve a purchase into a long-term relationship, you will still be profitable in the long run. So don’t sacrifice your long-term earnings for a short-term gain. 

9. Accept Your Error.

We are all human and we can make mistakes. However, when you make a mistake as a customer relations service, do not try to cover it and be honest. People will forgive you more easily if you accept your mistake and do your best to compensate for the situation.

10. Train Your Staff Well.

Many problems are eliminated if the customer service personnel are well trained, that is, if they communicate with the customers by giving great importance to the above-mentioned issues. 

Creating an Internal Customer Service Culture is a Must

Of course, the size of the company and the sector in which it is located are important, but in any case there will be departments that need to deal directly with customers.

• Sales
• Order
• Tele-marketing
• Technical support
• Call center

… Are some of these departments.

Who Should Care With Customers?

Who should deal with customers? A somewhat confusing question. Customers can contact the department they need in your company.

That’s why it is part of everyone’s business. In other words, it is a part of the work of all departments, not a single department.

Therefore, if it comes to helping customers, everyone in the company has responsibility.

Read: What are Customer Expectations? How to Meet

Every employee in a company has a job description and everyone is focused on their own business. However, it would not be possible not to answer the customers’ questions because the job description covers the X fields.

In-house Customer Service Culture Should Be Established

It should be clearly stated that all employees have certain responsibilities in the field of customer service. Because if a successful customer service is a natural part of a company, it means that one of the obstacles to succeed that company has disappeared.

Having such a culture of the company causes you to leave other companies that offer the same product or service as you and stand out one step.

Remember:

Every company has its own culture and a company with successful customer service is always one step ahead of other companies.

Let’s take a look at how to improve the in-house customer service cult.

1. Reward Your Employees.

You can reward your personnel who comply with the principle of “customer satisfaction” in performance evaluations for the company. In other words, you can add successes in customer service to performance evaluation. When it comes to such a situation, all employees attach more importance to this issue than usual. Although it is a bit pragmatic, it can be a very good method. 

2. Set an example.

As a manager, you can set an example with your behavior in developing a company culture that gives importance to customer service. So if you treat your employees badly, they can also treat customers badly. Therefore, behave as you want the company and the employees. Valuate your employees, they value customers, and all parties benefit from this business. 

3. Create a Spirit of Unity.

If everyone in a company attaches great importance to customer service, the company grows with great and confident steps… Therefore, whatever department they work in, give all your staff the message that customer satisfaction is of primary importance and ask them to act accordingly. 

How is Customer Service Quality Measured?

Every successful company attaches great importance to customer service. But how to understand whether customer service is effective and successful?

1. Review Supply and Demand Balance.

The first thing you should look to understand the quality of customer service is sales. If the customers are happy, the chances are high. In other words, if the sales are going well, customer service has a certain share in this. Of course, it is difficult to draw a definitive conclusion here, but looking at the supply-demand balance and sales may be a good start.

2. Ask Customers

The clearest way to find out if customers are satisfied with their customer service is to ask them. With various surveys, e-mails and forms, you can learn what you think about your customer service in a short way and benefit from the feedback of customers. 

3. Review the Number of Complaints.

If there is a decrease in incoming complaints e-mails and phones, it is possible to link this to quality customer service. Of course, it is also useful to know that not every dissatisfied customer sends an e-mail. In other words, every complainant may not be aware of this situation. 

4. Analyze Your Weaknesses.

It is important to identify the company’s weaknesses to find out how effective customer service is. For example: Some customers may be unhappy because the product they are looking for is “out of stock”. For this reason, you can examine the operations in the company and try to correct the places where there are problems. 

5. Review Your Competitors.

If you want to measure the quality of your customer service, you can review the customer service of competing companies. So you can call this company’s call center like a customer and observe the situation first hand.

In this way, you can see how you are in a competitive environment and directly see the areas where you need to improve.