CUSTOMER SERVICE: CHANGING TRENDS AND HOW TO GEAR YOURSELF

CUSTOMER SERVICE: CHANGING TRENDS AND HOW TO GEAR YOURSELF New customer service techniques and strategies are being introduced in the market which provide you with the opportunity to “woo“ the customers, engage them and keep them coming back. But sometimes there can also be some challenges. Here are some of the changing trends and how customer service representatives can gear themselves for the challenges which are thus associated and how to take full advantage of the situation in order to provide exceptional customer satisfaction.

Social Media And Customer Service Gone are the days, when customer grievances remained only in the knowledge of the company and the customer, and maybe the customer’s family. Today social media can bring your company bad repute in a matter of seconds for providing poor customer service. Through a single tweet or Facebook post, the entire world will know about your mistake.

How does one tackle such a challenge and come out as a winner? Well the answer is easy; first apologize for the poor service and then fix the problem that was created at your end, by giving the customer the solution. Second, give your customer a little something extra, that makes up for the poor service in the first place and keeps bringing the customer back.

Fix the problem by giving the customer an exchange or a refund, and then amaze and win them back, by offering a discount, free shipping or even a small gift, as a token to show the customers that they are valued.

Creating A Competitive Edge

When you closely observe, you will see that every company is trying to provide exceptional customer service and trying to please the customer. With abundance of information available and consultants ready to offer help on how to improve customer service, nearly every company has the basics wrapped around. What to say to the customer, how to say it and even what not to say.

The trick here is to create a competitive edge with what your company is offering to the customer which no other business is.

Be Unique: The goal is to impress the customer, to be so unique in the delivery of your service that they want to instantly tell their friends about the memorable experience or give a great review to followers on social media. This is the kind of viral marketing that will give your company the competitive edge that other companies will try to match up to. Simply raise the bar of your customer service, walk the extra mile and you will have the appreciation from your customers.

Be An Expert: If anything about customer service has changed, it is the customer. Today the customers are becoming self-sufficient and self-reliant. Customers can simply go on to the web and find solutions, they are well aware before they come to you with a problem. So how can customer service representatives prepare themselves for this challenge? How will they be able to satisfy and serve the self-sufficient customer?

Well the customer service representative can be one thing the customer cannot, an expert when it comes to product knowledge and information. Train your customer service representative to be experts and professionals at offering solutions and tips that a customer can’t self-serve through.

When providing solutions and advice the customer service rep should look to analyze all information available and give the customer the best option.

It’s important to revolutionize the roles of the customer service reps to become experts in their field, whose knowledge can change the experience of the customer.