Customer service plays quite an integral role in making or breaking your entire company. One wrong move on part of your support agent can cost you a lot. We are sure, you cannot afford to take such a risk. As a matter of fact, no enterprise – big or small – can afford to take such kind of chance that could potentially jeopardize the company’s reputation and sales. This is why in order to bring some positive changes in your company and to improve its overall services, you must build a robust customer support team.
To help you with it, we have put together a list of some of the effective strategies through which you can do so. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
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Listen to the Customers Carefully
The end goal of any company is to retain a customer and solving or fixing the issue at hand is not the only way to retain them. You must work on everything from communication to getting feedback. The first thing you need to start with is listening to the customers carefully.
In most cases, it has been seen that agents don’t have the patience of listening to the customers and they hurriedly answer their queries without paying much heed to them. This can immediately put the customers off and sends a negative message regarding your company and its policies to them.
In this regard, we suggest taking pointers from telecom companies like Cox Communications. It sets an excellent example of how customer support should be. Apart from providing services 24/7, the company also offers a separate channel to people who don’t speak English. As a person of Hispanic descent, you can contact Cox en Español and get all the information you need, and that too in your native language. This goes to show that companies go the extra mile to cater to the needs of their customers.
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Be Empathetic
Most people don’t consider this factor much of a difference maker, however, you would be surprised to know how impactful it can be. It is quite significant to communicate with your customers with utmost empathy. Understand where they are coming from and how much they are affected by the problem they are facing with your product or services.
Practicing to be empathetic toward their feelings and frustrations can go a long way. It is necessary for you to understand that you can come across a situation of all kinds. At that time, you have to prepare yourself to handle it with empathy and patience. Letting the customer know that you acknowledge their frustration can turn the whole situation around.
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Clear Communication
Successful communications are those that are clear and don’t leave room for any sort of confusion. You must be clear in your communication while interacting with the customers. Don’t talk in a way where they only understand half of what you just said, and the rest is there for them to assume.
What’s more, in order to have effective communication, you should choose terms and expressions that leave a positive impact. Positive language and attitude make sure that the conversation will not end on a negative note.
The goal of any customer support team is to leave the customer satisfied. Even if you cannot solve the issues immediately, at least show that you do acknowledge the problem and you will be referring them to someone who can expertly handle the case.
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Omni-channel Support
In the current digitalized world, it has become the need of the hour to provide services using all mediums and channels. People these days hardly get time to pick up their phones and dial a number of a company only to inquire about certain services or file a complaint. They want multiple options and ones that are connected to each other so they don’t have to keep repeating their issue at every touchpoint.
In addition to this, it has been seen in recent years that customers would rather talk to a chatbot to get their queries and issues addressed rather than an agent. This also saves up time and you don’t have to put much energy into it.
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Use Positive Language
Using positive language is very important to have a good conversation with customers. While attending to their problems, you should be mindful of how you talk to them and how you can take the stress away from the problem at hand. You should never underestimate the power words hold and when communicating with customers in positive language, you can set the tone for the conversation to come.
Phrases like “Great question!” or “I’ll find that out for you!” and “Please keep going on and I understand where you are coming from” can make a huge difference and they can help in establishing good relationships.
Wrapping Up
To err is human but when it comes to customer care, you cannot simply afford to make any mistakes. And this is why in order to improve your support team, you must follow the abovementioned tips to build a robust customer support team.