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Powerful Words of Customer Service

August 20, 2018

There are customer service ramifications of eight commonly used words and sayings that we’ve designated as Killer Words. These eight phrases are normally used with good intentions, yet they are damaging to customer relationships. Let’s look at how we can avoid the Killer Words and see that it’s not how you perceive the phrases but how the recipient interprets them.

#1—Killer Words of Customer Service: “CALM DOWN.”

When a customer contacts you about a problem, they generally are not happy. So, it’s not a good idea to say something that might make them more unhappy. Let’s listen in on a customer phone call.

Jessica: Thanks for holding support. This is Jessica.

Customer: Yeah, your company promised me delivery on Tuesday. It’s now Friday and it’s still not here. Do you have any idea what kind of problems you’re causing me?

Jessica: Ma’am, please: Calm down!

Customer: Calm down?!? Calm down??? Don’t tell me to calm down!!! Thanks for the advice, but if your company would have done what they promised, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!

Did you see what happened here? Instead of handling the customer’s concern immediately, Jessica chose to change the subject. Rather than dealing with the complaint, she sidetracked it into telling the customer what to do, and all of a sudden it’s an argument. The customer went from upset to furious. This can be handled much better.

Jessica: Thanks for holding. Support This is Jessica.

Customer: Yeah, your company promised me delivery on Tuesday. It’s now Friday and it’s still not here. Do you have any idea what kind of problems you’re causing me?

Jessica: My apologies. That’s got to be very frustrating. If need be, we can overnight your order so it’s there Monday. Now please tell me exactly what happened and I will get to work on fixing this.

Customer: Yes OK. Thanks. …

That was much better. Jessica apologized and focused her efforts on solving the problem and that’s what the customer wanted in the first place. Telling a customer how to act is never a good idea.

#2—Killer Words of Customer Service: “CAN I BE HONEST WITH YOU?”

Chris: Parts. This is Chris.

Customer: Yeah, Chris. This is Darius Jones. We spoke last week and you asked me to call today to arrange installation of the new pump for our hydraulic press.

Chris: Hello, Mr. Jones. Um, regarding your new pump, can I be honest with you?

Customer: No, I want you to lie to me. Yes, of course, you can be honest with me!

If ever there was a useless saying, it’s the Killer Words “can I be honest with you?” The customer assumes that you’re always going to be honest with them. They expect that. There are several variations of these words that needs to be dropped as well, such as:

Let me be perfectly frank.
You want the truth, right?
Look, I’m going to level with you.
Can I be candid with you?

Always choose correct words so that your customers can be fair and polite to you as well! If you liked this blog post, please share it with your friends! Thanks

Grab These 4 Proven Customer-Retention Strategies

July 20, 2018

Did you know that only 32 percent of customers are likely to place a second order in their first year as a customer? That means you’re losing most of your customers after their first purchase. Unless you create a strategy to retain them, you’re wasting valuable marketing resources.

Here are just a few reasons you should have a retention strategy for your e-commerce business:

It’s easy to sell: Selling to your existing customers is easier. In fact, an existing customer is three to 12 times more likely to buy than a new prospect.
You can double your revenue: Adobe has reported online retailers that retain just 10 percent of existing customers end up making twice the revenue.

Compelling stuff, right? Still, most e-commerce companies still rely solely on customer acquisition. They undervalue the possibility of retaining and nurturing their existing customer base. Developing and implementing a retention strategy is vital to creating a sustainable business. Here’s how to make it happen.

Demonstrate value.

Most of your first-time customers are filling an immediate need. They’re not necessarily interested in a long-term relationship with your brand. That means you must figure out how to encourage your customers to return more often, spend more time on your site and ultimately purchase from your store.

Publishing useful content on a regular basis is one way to demonstrate value. NewEgg uses videos to engage consumers and ultimately convert them to customers. These posts range from product reviews to in-depth tutorials. On a related note, ensure your product descriptions not only entice visitors to buy but make them remember your brand after the sale.

Under-promise and over-deliver.

Nothing destroys your credibility faster than bailing on a promise you made to your customers. If you offer same-day delivery but can’t realistically uphold that standard on a consistent basis, you’re creating dissatisfied customers.

Instead, try this: Estimate how long it will take to deliver the shipment and then double that time. Zappos promises delivery within five business days, but the majority of orders are shipped overnight. This exceeds customers’ expectations, making a positive impact and fostering trust in the brand.

Create a win-back email campaign.

Email marketing produces a conversion rate nearly twice that of organic search, and it also outperforms nearly all other marketing channels. But an average of 60 percent of email lists are full of “dead” subscribers? A roster filled with inactive hurts your conversion factor and leads to reduced deliverability as messages are routed to spam.

Start a subscription-model business.

The subscription-model economy is rapidly becoming the norm across industries and particularly in ecommerce. Amazon Prime and Sightglass Coffee have supplemented their revenue with this tactic. The subscription model helps ensure revenue from repeat customers. This gives you more control over revenue prediction so you can optimize your expansion plan and set a marketing budget accordingly.

How to Choose the Right Software for Customer Support Services?

July 13, 2018

Choosing the right support software is the first step to tackle after scaling your customer support team or simply realizing you’ve outgrown email as your current support solution. However, there is a ton of different support software out there.

Not only are the options pretty much endless, but every single help desk or support solution provider is obviously trying to put their product a step ahead of others. This means that they all look good at first glance, and choosing just one can be a pretty intimidating task.

The Process of Choosing Support Software:

Choosing the tool for you might seem complicated, but if you approach it in a structured way and involve your team into the process, it’s going to be much easier⁠—and hopefully also fun and constructive.

Here’s what you need to do on a very high level:

1) Figure out what you need as a company

The most important groups to think of when specifying your requirements are:

Your customers
Your support team
Your managers

2) Talk to your team

After you’ve put together a basic overview of your needs and future plans, you should also have a chat with other people in the team. The crucial people are obviously the ones who will be using the tool every day as well as those directly managing them.

However, having this discussion in an even bigger circle is great for unexpected but useful feedback and points, especially if you’ve cultivated an “everyone does support” culture in your company.

3) Put together a list of options

Go through as many unbiased review sites and listicles as you can, and just write down names of support software providers⁠—don’t worry about diving deep into features quite yet.

After doing your own research, ask your own network for recommendations. The best advice always comes from people that have actual first hand experience using these tools.

Who knows, you might be able to eliminate some options from your big list straight away⁠—or add some.

However, be careful to not take these recommendations too seriously. The fact that a solution didn’t work out for another company, doesn’t mean it won’t for yours.

4) Evaluate

You don’t even have to sign up just yet⁠—most serious providers have a list of features on their website or offer demo videos to show you what they have. This will help you see which tools immediately have (or don’t have) the things you’ve established you need for your team.Remove the options that don’t meet your criteria from your list. If the list is still long, you can also rely on your gut a little and get rid of the ones you feel are too complex, too expensive, or that you just don’t like the look of.

5) Play around and choose one

Now that you have your top options, it’s time to sign up and see how you like actually using them. Most awesome support software has a trial or a demo account you can use to get into it.Play around with it to get a feel of how it works and what the features you’re looking for actually look like.

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Source: GrooveHQ

Three C’S of Customer Service Success

June 29, 2018

Emma Whitner Florida says there is an old saying in the real-estate industry: The three keys to success are location, location, and location. There is a similar take on the customer service world. The three keys to customer experience success are consistency, consistency and consistency.

So, let’s talk about the different ways an organization delivers a consistent experience.

The quality of the product or service must be consistent. Whatever the company sells must meet the expectations of the customer, every time. It doesn’t matter how good your customer service is, if the product doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, the customer will find another company that better meets their needs.
The different channels customers interact with you and your organization must be consistent. Today’s customers connect with the companies they do business with in multiple ways. The traditional way a customer communicated with a company was in person or on the phone. Then along came emails, then chat, then chatbots. And, then there are social channels and other messaging apps. This is all part of the digital revolution, and the modern customer expects to have a consistent experience regardless of the channel.
The attitude of the people who work at the company must be consistent. I’m not suggesting that everyone be a clone of each other. It is the positive attitude and the effort the employees make to take care of their customers that must be consistent. It shouldn’t matter if the customer talks to John one day and Jane the next, everyone comes to work with the plan to do their very best, every day. Regardless of who picks up the phone or responds to a message, the customer will always have a good experience.

How to Use Technology to Improve Customer Service

June 23, 2018

There’s no denying the fact that customer service is important to a small or mid-sized business. The quality of that service will either enhance or degrade customer loyalty to your brand and your business. With the economy in recession, customers have more alternatives than ever. The business that proves to be responsive to customer questions, complaints, or other needs can gain a clear competitive advantage. That’s why it’s so important to understand how new technologies can help you anticipate customer needs, tailor business processes to best serve customers, and ultimately improve the efficiency of your business – the latter of which can keep costs down.

Customer Service Technology

There are a few major areas in which technology now is able to help provide key advantages to businesses in engendering customer loyalty by improving customer service:

Websites. Providing areas on your website where customers can answer their own questions or seek answers from others.
E-mail. Using e-mail as a way to improve customer service and more quickly respond to certain needs or help requests.
Communications. Unifying communications so that you know that the customer who left a voice mail also sent an e-mail with the same request a few days ago.
Software. Better managing customer relationships with more sophisticated data-gathering tools, such as customer relationship management software.

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5 Tips for Building a Customer Interaction Management Team

June 4, 2018

Developing a great team of any type takes time, courage & patience. But, when it comes to taking care of the most important asset of a business (Of course people as customers), making sure you have the right people in place to manage these complex relationships is essential.

1) Look for excellent conversationalists – This won’t always show up on a resume, so make sure to interview potential team members in person to see how well they pick up and react to different types of language. Observe their reactions not only to what you say but also your body language and tone of voice. Non-verbal communication is just as important in business as what people say through words.

2) Lean towards prospects with a strong technology background – Even the best conversationalists are now expected to be well-versed across multiple communication channels. Being only a smooth talker on the phone with customers isn’t good enough anymore, employers now seek out team members who are concise yet thoughtful in text-based mediums including email, chat, and messaging apps.

3) Evaluate internal communication capabilities – One of the pillars of a strong customer interaction management team is actually having effective and efficient conversations with colleagues. Since many employees across various departments can interact with customers (especially in the B2B industry), it’s essential that two employees aren’t providing conflicting responses. Finding excellent internal communicators isn’t easy, but once you do you should hold onto these employees as the skill is rare and valuable.

4) Leverage a system to archive customer information – No matter how good your customer interaction management team is at creating engaging and impactful dialogue, they simply can’t remember each detail of every single conversation. A customer interaction management system that also acts as a repository for customer information is essential for ensuring conversations are frequent and effective. In addition, an archive of customer discussions is great for transitioning accounts should an employee get promoted or move to a different department.

5) Seek to hire people with different backgrounds and opinions – Most companies have a diverse customer base, meaning you should also have a diverse customer interaction management team. Try to find employees who are not only a good fit with your culture but also have unique perspectives created by their personal background and history. While lifelong “local” employees may be less transient, they also can sometimes have difficulty relating to customers from other areas of the country or even the world.

The article is sourced from Team Support. Thanks for reading. Please share it with your colleagues and friends.

The Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Experience

April 13, 2018

There’s a big difference between customer experience and customer service. In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Patrick Bet-David goes through the major differences between the two. Bet-David also recommends some exercises you can do to understand customer service at your business.

Customer service is reactive, where customer experience is proactive, Bet-David says. For example, customer service could be helping an upset client with an issue they are having with your product or service. Customer experience is providing things such as a loyalty rewards program or special promotions for customers’ birthdays.

How you treat your customers and the experience you create for them is key to running a successful business.

6 secrets about customer service training that will boost your team’s results

April 4, 2018

While training and preparing your employees is clearly the first step taken by a good management team, it is nevertheless advisable to focus on what type of training they need and how to implement it. Below we will give you 6 secrets that will help you improve your customer service training and provide a significant boost to your business.

1. Train ALL your employees

Customer service is something that interests and concerns the entire company, not just a single department. In one way or another, the work of all your employees resonates with the end customer. For this reason, it is essential to provide customer service training instruction to your entire staff: not only will they be prepared to meet (or exceed) the expectations of users, but you will also be transmitting a consistent message across the company regarding the importance of customer service.

2. A coherent message: the customer comes first

While customer service training could include numerous technical aspects and personal skills, the essential message should be loud and clear: the customer comes first. These few words should waft throughout the organization as if they constituted a religious mantra. If your training is built upon this principle (which should be repeated until exhaustion), the foundation you are laying will help everything else run smoothly.

3. Practice, practice and continue practicing

If you want successful training, you have to commit to practice. Numerous studies confirm that experiential learning and learning by doing increase brain activity and the ability to memorize knowledge. Have your employees practice everything that they are learning so that they will never forget anything.

4. Exercise attitudes, positivity, and empathy

Many customer service training programs forget to teach the basics: kindness, empathy, positivity and courtesy. While many of these skills could appear naturally, the reality is that they must be reinforced and fostered throughout the company. Make sure that your courses drive home the need to be positive, smile, refer to the customer by name, remain calm, have patience and walk in our users’ shoes. Never assume that your employees are capable of doing all this in their day to day tasks.

5. Personalize your training

Every company is its own universe, and every customer support service is different. For this reason, if your company has some particular processes that you want to implement (welcome greeting, presentation of a product, packaging, closing a sale, returning an article, etc.), it is worth investing time into personalized training that satisfies the needs of your company and business.

6. Ongoing training: reinforce, reinforce and continue reinforcing

Customer service training should be a never-ending learning experience. Running a course during a month or two will neither significantly impact your staff nor improve your business’s figures. Employees (just like everyone else!) forget what they have learned and easily fall back into their old habits. It is thus essential to hold regular training courses (e.g., changing formats) to continue shoring up all the new knowledge and skills learned.

6 Ways to Improve your Online Customer Service

March 21, 2018

From choosing the correct support channels to using online resources to get out of the way, to empowering teams to keep customer happiness a priority, understanding how to properly conduct online support is paramount to creating an amazing customer experience.

What follows are our best tips for improving your online service today.

1. Ask yourself: What are my customers’ support needs?

One of the most important things to consider when it comes to online customer service is finding what your customers typically need from your support team.

As an example: Say you’re looking for a company to host your website. You might want to make sure they offer live chat, since you’ll want to make sure you can get an immediate response should your site go down. In that instance, you don’t want to get sent through a ticket system or to a forum.

On the flip side, great companies like Loco2 have removed their phone number from their site and still provide the exceptional customer service they’re known for — because they’re keenly aware of what their customers’ needs are.

2. Get out of your customers’ way

Self-service can be an enormous benefit to your customers — not the hindrance you may perceive it to be.

One of the better examples out there can be found over at WooCommerce. The Woo team offers WordPress themes for site owners, many of these folks being beginners. If you’ve never run a website before, even on a relatively simple platform like WordPress, know that there can be myriad headaches and questions as you take your first steps.

3. …But don’t stop at knowledge base documentation

The idea of “content as customer service” is one that many businesses can benefit from.

We’ve taken this to heart at Help Scout, taking time to create a variety of customer service resources that run the gamut of free e-books, webinars, and whitepapers that aim to help people excel in customer support. When customers ask about these sorts of topics, we have a full suite of content pieces that can help them out, instead of creating a separate reply each and every time

4. Respect your customers’ time

Do you know how long your customers wait for an initial reply? Or how long the average time to resolution is? What about how many times a customer has to go back and forth with your team before they get their questions answered to their satisfaction?

The longer you make customers wait to hear from you, the more time you give them to start exploring your competitors’ offerings. We don’t have to tell you that what gets measured gets managed — unless you’re already keeping an eagle eye on your customer service metrics, chances are there are some opportunities for optimization.

5. Recognize that ‘online service’ ≄ ‘robotic service’

When you’re working with customers online, via email or chat, the temptation can be toward a just-the-facts-ma’am style — but a pleasant tone (or any specific tone, really) is more difficult to convey via text, where you don’t have additional signifiers like swings in vocal pitch or friendly body language.

Conveying empathy via your virtual tone is critical in online customer service. One crucial skill that goes a long way with customers is mirroring — matching their tone lets them know you’re on their side. When a customer is formal, keep your tone strictly professional. If they’re more casual, relax your tone too — it’s OK to crack a joke or include a funny GIF in your reply if the customer has sent you a queue that they have a sense of humor.

6. Empower your entire team to help customers

One of the biggest benefits of conducting most of your support online is definitely the flexibility, and empowering your entire team to talk with customers and handle their questions is critical if you want to turn your support from good to great.

Why take the risk of running into a customer service trainwreck? Create a customer-centric culture into your employee’s mindsets by having everyone do support. It won’t hinder their long-term company-specific skills, and it will make sure that each employee knows how to properly talk with customers.

Source: HelpScout

7 Powerful Customer Service Phone Tips

January 16, 2018

The phone is one of the oldest and most personal customer service channels. Its unique nature calls for a unique approach. While a phone call can feel like you’re talking directly to someone, it lacks the visual feedback of face to face contact. What’s more, you’re not able to reread what was said – as in, say, live chat support.

Let’s keep these unique qualities in mind as we go through these 7 customer service phone tips.

1 Stand up calling

One of the best tips I’ve received for handling important calls was to stand up and walk around. On your feet you’re naturally more energetic than when seated. It’s a simple matter of heart rate and blood flow.

Unfortunately, most people working in call centers are seated all day long. When you get one on the phone, they sound like they could fall asleep anytime.

Tip: Stand up to sound more energetic on the phone.

2 Calling blind

When we’re listening to someone face to face, politeness forces us to focus our eyes on the other person. But on the phone, we lack visual feedback.

This, combined with a world of distractions at your fingertips, makes wandering thoughts a real danger. We tend to overestimate our multitasking skills, so we think we can push in a quick email check and… *blank* What is she talking about again?

Worse, when you lose track, you’re not able to read over the transcript to pick things up again.

One tip for maintaining full focus while calling is to close your eyes, limiting your sensory input almost exclusively to your hearing. Be the Daredevil of phone support.

Tip: Close your eyes to focus fully on what the other person is saying.

3 The smile effect

Smiling isn’t only nice on the eye, it’s nice on the ear as well. Your voice sounds different when you speak with a smile. A study by the University of Portsmouth showed that people can hear whether a person on the other end of the line is smiling.

A laughing voice sounds warmer, making the customer feel welcome. By putting on a smile when you pick up the phone you’ll notice your calls become more friendly.

Tip: Smile to get a warm and welcoming voice.

4 The “Happy to see you!” technique

Phone service reps are generally taught to pick up the phone with warmth and enthusiasm. “Hi! This is Bob, how may I help you?!”

Source: User Like

Tag: Customer Support