The customer is king – so serve them well

Jo Causton on how professional and friendly customer service can put your business above competitors.

You run a good company, but in today’s competitive world how do you differentiate your business from others?

Delivering a high standard of customer service can help to increase customer numbers through repeat business and recommendation. Likewise, a poor customer experience can impact on your reputation and potential future business.

Research from the Institute of Customer Service shows that more than three quarters (77%) of customers say they would avoid using a company again where there is another option available after experiencing poor service. In contrast, 63% of people who have a good customer experience would purchase again from the same organisation, so customer service is integral to the health of your business.

Our research shows that where organisations deliver good customer experience they focus on being easy to do business with, resolving customer problems promptly, delivering on promises made and having well trained and knowledgeable staff to ensure they are able to cope with a large range of customer issues.

If you want to gauge how easy you are to do business with ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you make it easy for your customers to make contact with you, at a time of their choosing?
• Do you get back to them quickly?
• Do you leave them with a way of getting back in touch with you?
• And do you measure how effective customers believe you are at doing this?

In addition, can customers make contact with you in different ways and are your teams trained to monitor and answer enquiries which are received through different channels – for example, telephone, email or social media?

Engaging employees

We have found that where customers perceive that employees are highly engaged and appear to be friendly, helpful and enthusiastic, they are much more likely to recommend or buy from an organisation. But where employees appear to be less engaged, customers are much less likely to recommend and more likely to take their business elsewhere or even discourage other customers.

The Institute’s research suggests that the most common single cause of complaints is quality of products and services – an issue that can often be rectified. Customers say that the most annoying issues are: an organisation not keeping its promises or commitments; staff attitude; and staff competence. Complaints about these issues are much more difficult to resolve and more likely to result in lasting customer dissatisfaction.

Again, ask the following: Do your services live up to expectations? Do you arrive when agreed and do you manage the expectations of what is possible during and after your visit?

Customer expectations

Care also needs to be taken when managing customer expectations about the timescale in which products or services can be delivered. In an industry where you sometimes rely on third parties to deliver, it is absolutely critical to match and manage customer expectations, speaking to them regularly, explaining each of the steps you are taking and what this means for them will help to avoid confusion and help build trust.

Having well-trained and professional staff who are genuinely empowered to do their jobs is critical. Whether you work on your own or are part of a larger organisation, being professional, knowledgeable and expert within your subject area is essential.

Customer service teams deal with a wide range of people and situations and need appropriate knowledge and expertise to look after customers successfully. When a problem occurs they need to have the confidence and ability to make sometimes difficult decisions in the moment which balance both customer and commercial needs. Where you employ staff it is essential that you equip them with the skills to make the right decisions at the right time, particularly when they are in the field and will often have to make appropriate judgement calls without assistance.

This knowledge must be combined with good listening and communication skills. Show empathy with your customers, especially when there is a problem that is causing them stress or concern. It is important to build mutual confidence and respect by demonstrating that you understand and are responding to the customer’s point of view.

Jo Causton is the chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service