Winning Spirit Magazine January - February 2019 | Page 16

BEING THE BEST
1
2
6
to Improve Your
Customer Service
Start With Empathy
Ways
in 2019
Many customers will get in touch
with you because something has gone
wrong. A product isn’t working, they
can’t figure out how to use something,
or they’ve been given an incorrect piece
of information. Before you do anything
else, acknowledge their frustration. A
simple comment like, “Oh, that sounds
so frustrating!” or I understand why
that would be upsetting,” can go a long
way toward helping them feel like you
genuinely care about them.
Pay Attention
No matter what is going on around you,
the customer you’re interacting with
should have your full and complete
attention. This might mean covering
your other ear or turning away from
distraction if you’re on the phone. In
person, it means making eye contact with
the customer and not looking away, even
if someone else calls you or there is a lot
of action around you.
Do your best to make the customer feel
like they are the only thing that matters
to you right now. Nod at appropriate
times, ask questions that will help you get
to the bottom of the problem, and smile
when it’s appropriate. All of these things
let your customers know that they are
important to you and that you are doing
all that you can to help them.
3
4
Find Common Ground
Whenever possible, find common ground
with a customer. This helps both you
and the customer to see each other as
human beings, and ultimately, it will
help your customers to feel closer to you
and, through you, to the company you’re
representing. If you can find common
ground over the problem they’re having,
that’s even better. You could say, “I had
that problem when I started using this
software, too,” or “It drives me nuts when
things break.”
Personalize
the Experience
Remember that every customer is a
person and treat them as such. If it’s
available to you, address them by name.
When it’s appropriate, talk to them a bit
about where they live or what might be
going on in their lives.
Personalize yourself too. If your company
is on social media, take time to post
some personal pictures alongside the
professional ones. Make sure that the bios
on your website are up to date so your
customers can learn a little bit about you
and the rest of your company. You can
even go as far as to send personalized
emails whenever possible. Sure, it takes
a bit longer, but it helps your customers
to remember that you aren’t just a
representative of a cold, corporate entity—
you’re also a human being.
Do you want your customers to come back, time and time again, to
buy from you or work with you? Would you love it if previous customers
convinced their friends to buy from you too? Of course you would.
The best way to make sure they do that is to improve their
experience of your interactions with them.
Even if you offer a killer product and your team has top-notch
people skills, the way that customers are supported and the level
of service you provide will determine how they think of you, whether
they come back again, and how they talk about you to their friends.
If you’d like to do some fine-tuning when it comes to
customer service, here are some places to begin.
5
6
Acknowledge
Your Mistakes
If you make a mistake (or someone else
in the company did), and it’s affecting a
customer’s life, take the time to let them
know what happened and to make it right.
It can feel awful to admit that you’ve done
something incorrectly, but this actually
endears you to customers. When you take
the time to notice your mistake, to let them
know that you’ve noticed, and to make it
right, customers feel like they are important
to you. They also come to trust you,
because they know that you would rather
admit the wrong than cover it up.
Listen to Feedback
Find a way for your customers to give
you feedback, encourage them to speak
up, and listen to what they say. You won’t
want to implement every single customer
suggestion you get, but permitting feedback
allows you to see patterns in how your
customers perceive you that you might
otherwise miss. Learn to see these patterns
as chances to improve on what you’re
already doing, rather than as threats to feel
defensive about. After all, when you make
changes based on the feedback, you will
eventually be improving your business,
as well.
Fine-tuning the customer service
experience that you offer can
take energy and focus, but it will
eventually improve your bottom line.
When people enjoy working with
you and feel like interacting with you
offers real value, they will be loyal
to you and will encourage others to
work with you, too. ◆
14 LHM Winning Spirit January/February 2019