Customer service secrets that no textbook will teach you
Pundits might categorize different businesses into different industry. But, I like to keep things clear and simple. If you are running a business, you are part of the service industry — that’s it! After all, your business is offering a solution to the problems faced by your customer.
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Now this opens the doors of cross business learning. There’s so much that business can learn from each other. A small example is how an IT business can learn the lessons of customer service from someone dealing in hospitality and vice versa.
Sounds weird, doesn’t it?
Well, in this post I’m going to show you some examples on the type of cross learning I’m talking about here -
Rigid, phony and scripted service — a BIG NO
With the rise of social media as a powerful marketing tool, people are no longer satisfied with scripted and phony messages. As a business owner, you need to get connected with your customers on a more personal level.
On a personal level, I would prefer talking to a human being to get solution rather than talk to a machine. I am sure you would too. No matter what industry you are a part of, if you want your customer to stick with you for long you need to focus on adding a more human touch to your customer service.
Empowering your team
Did you know that at Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company an employee can spend up to $2000 per guest to solve any dissatisfaction issues, without seeking any permission for higher authorities or involving the management. The keywords in the sentence are ‘without seeking permission’.
Now that’s a quite good example of employee empowerment. When your employees feel empowered, they will be more confident in decision making. And a confident employee is always going to give an unsurpassed service experience!
Empowerment does not always have to be about financial decisions. It can be anything — right from sending an email greeting to client or anything that will make them feel special.
Making the customer feel special
Customer service is all about making people special. I’d like to share a small example here -
I once visited a hotel. While ordering I generally asked the server ‘how big is the lobster?’. To which he replied,” How big do you want?’
Now these small things sometimes click. The most expected reply would have been small or large. But the answer that the server gave left an instant impression. The whole crux of sharing this example here is that the server would do anything for their guest. Even if it was something beyond the usual.
Those are the kind of experiences that make a customer attracted towards a business.
It all begins with hiring the right people
To offer great customer service, you need to create a positive work culture. And, to create that culture of positivity you need to hire the right people. As a leader you must have a vision about the culture you want to create. When hiring people for your team, you need to look for people who fit within that vision.
A person might be exceptional at technical level. But if he does not align with your vision hiring him is of no use. That’s where something called trait-based hiring comes into the scene. For instance, if you are looking to hire someone to deal directly with the customers you need to look for traits like empathy, conscientiousness and more in their personality.
Gone are the days when customer interaction was limited to just selling the product/service. To retain customer in the breakneck competition you must connect with them. That’s where you need to switch from just good customer service to great . And, the hallmark of great customer service lies in making them feel special.
I’ve shared some simple tips here learned by observing leaders from various industries. I’m certain that every business owner can benefit from these tips. In case, you have something more to share or some personal experience, do share in the comments. I’d love to hear them out.
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Vartika Kashyap is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016. She currently runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.
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Originally published at LinkedIn.com
