Almost every successful company believes and recognizes it is in the customer-experience business. We believe that Great Customer Service gives a competitive advantage that may reduce the cost of doing business and yields higher profit. This is the goal of every business but could also be a challenge with the global market nowadays.
Customer preferences changes through time and with the vast innovations, you should be able to focus on the factors that may affect your company’s position in the market. It may range from the quality / value of your product, cost, geographic location and skills. Given your current resources, you may increase your profit by differentiating from your competitors through service excellence.
Doing business is more than just providing a quality product / service. Service Excellence is delivering what the customer needs, managing their expectations and providing them a lasting experience that makes them want to avail more of your products / services. It is essential that you provide a unique customer experience by proactively anticipating your customers’ needs and expectations and exceeding them, every time.
Personally, I choose products and services I need or want depending on the service I receive. Back in my previous employment, I have noticed that excellent service really counts. My previous employers would regularly provide training programs relevant to delighting customers. Handling corporate accounts and guest services previously, receiving great comments and feedback is always of high importance. This means lowering cost of acquiring new accounts and repeat business means profit for the company as well.
Here’s the Top 10 Customer Service Skills that Matters:
Patience – spending time with customers to better understand their problems and needs is very important.
Attentiveness – the ability to listen is crucial in providing great service and paying close attention being mindful that not all communications are being said.
Great Communications Skills – making sure that you are clearly communicating your message to customers and most importantly how does it translate to customers. Keep your message simple and clarify to make sure if in doubt.
Knowledge of the products/services – knowledge and a deep understanding of your products/services is a must, as this would guide us how to help and solve customers’ problems.
Time Management – using time efficiently is the key, do not waste both your time on problems or area where you can’t help. Instead, get a partner or someone from your team who can best offer the solutions.
Staying Calm – being able to stay calm and influence others when things are getting busy or under pressure.
Goal Oriented Focus - empowering your team to delight customers and be able to handle customers’ concerns on a case-to case basis by providing several guidelines for them while they offer solutions and fix common problems.
Persuasion Skills – being able to convince the customers that you are able to offer them solutions and that your products/services is right for them.
Tenacity – great work ethic and willingness to do what needs to be done is key when providing the kind of service that people talk about. Staying persistent and the determination to get customers’ business to be able to serve them and solve their problems highly matter in providing excellent customer service.
Willingness to Learn - this is the most common skill and necessary to any skills. Willingness t to improve and invest in yourself to ensure that you are not going to be left behind and will always be up to date to ensure that you are able to offer the best service to your customers.
Now that we are providing business and learning & development solutions, we would like our clients to have a pleasurable experience working with us and would like to ensure that they receive value and benefit through the services we provide. Want to find out more about our Customer Service Programs?
Here are some of our favorite Customer Service Quotes that we live by:
Make a customer, not a sale. ~ Katherine Barchetti
The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary. ~ Sam Walton
You are serving a customer, not a life sentence. Learn how to enjoy your work. ~ Laurie McIntosh
Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You’d be amazed how many companies don’t listen to their customers. ~Ross Perot
The customer experience is the next competitive battleground. ~ Jerry Gregoire
Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. ~ Damon Richards
The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing. ~ John Russell
Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game. ~ Tony Allesandra
Every great business is built on friendship. ~ JC Penney
Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you. ~ Chip Bell
To see more Customer Service Quotes, click here.
Our calls and visits to different customers from South East Asia inspired us write about this topic. Most of the clients we have from different industries have been in the business for years and even decades and yet they all want to continuously develop and improve customer service to differentiate them from the competition and to be the first choice of customers. That made us conclude how important customer service is and how a great customer service benefit both your customers and your business. Contact us to find out more how we can serve you soon!