The importance of great customer service in the progress and development of a business enterprise cannot be stressed enough. It is all about what your clients and customers think of you as a brand that defines your reputation in the market. Needless to say, you just cannot grow or cement your position within a sea of competitors by treating your customers with negligence or disdain. While most of the articles tell you what you should do to provide a delightful experience for your customers, we are here to guide you on the common customer service mistakes that you should avoid making while handling queries or complaints.
- Inadequate training of your staff
Regardless of how small or large your organization might be, the one thing that you must ensure is that your staff is trained for proper customer handling. No customer appreciates the fact that the company they are planning to do business with is incapable of treating them right. From indifference to insolence or inability to provide accurate information about a product or service, there are countless flaws among improperly trained employees that are likely to end up as a major turn off for your valuable clients.
- Unwillingness to be a good listener
When your employees are unwilling to lend an ear to your customer’s feedback or grievances, they are essentially failing to acknowledge the latter’s worth and value for their company. You just cannot assume what your customer really expects out of you. Instead of basing your interactions purely on your CSR scripts, you need to go the extra mile in actually listening to what your customer is trying to convey and then make well-informed decisions about how you might resolve their issue.
- Being careless with your apologies
You know that you have made a grave mistake and your customer has had to suffer major inconvenience at your hands. Now the next step is to actually acknowledge their distress by offering your heartfelt apologies and earnestly work towards fixing the situation. However, there are a lot of people who feel that a simple ‘sorry’ would suffice and be able to set things right. An authentic apology is something that your customers both expect and demand in return for the fact that they are bringing business to your company.
Most importantly, since customer service requires great communication and interpersonal skills, you must ensure to recruit people who can actually perform the job effectively and do not end up struggling with even the most basic of customer interactions.