Your company's most vital asset is its customers. So dealing with them properly can gain long term relationships. Sure, you can get new customers or offer a discount, unique products or offer free gifts but that is re-inventing the wheel where , if you build relationships, they will return and recommend you. The key is to make each customer feel welcomed and helped.
Here are 7 tips dealing with customers:
Listening to customers - By listening to your customers they feel appreciated and not dismissed. If they're confused or have a problem, by lending a listening ear, your showing that you care.
Identify and anticipate needs - The more you know your customers the better you can anticipate their needs because most customer needs can be emotional rather than logical. Have regular communication so that you're aware of problems or upcoming needs.
Suggest solutions - Have a list of calming remedies which you and your employees can use. They can be purely a refund or return, or a coupon, or a free service. By agreeing to these remedies and how much you're willing to spend, you will be able to speak calmer and more confidently when offering the solution.
Appreciate the power of "Yes" - Always look for ways to help your customers. When they have a reasonable request, tell them that you can do it. Figure out the how part afterwards. Look for ways to make doing business with you easy and always do what you say you're going to do.
Acknowledge your limits - Know your limits, Yes is a powerful word but if your unable to fulfil a request, help them find an alternate remedy. Whether that remedy is your business or another, they will appreciate the extra mile you went to help them, and will recommend your business to their network.
Be available - Customer service is no longer just abut face to face contact and telephone. Online customers are growing by leaps and bounds and if your part of a online marketplace, you need to amend your service delivery to incorporate that. Simply make sure you respond promptly and informatively to clients via email or Facebook page or your Twitter account.
Apologize and stay calm - When something goes wrong, apologize. It's amazing how calming the words "I am sorry" cab be. Don't engage in fault finding or laying blame, but let them know you're sorry they had a problem. Deal with the problem immediately and let the customer know what you have done.
Staying calm is difficult sometimes but important. Your calming approach will
help your customer to stay calm too. They will feel like you're in control of the
situation and that you can help solve their problem.
Leave a comment and let us know about a situation you might have had and how it was solved. After all, we are all human and on this earth to help each other in times of need.
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