It should be obvious that how you treat your customers is a vital factor in business success, yet many companies become so focused on implementing their policies and procedures that customer satisfaction can get overlooked.
It’s absolutely essential to continued success to provide the best possible customer experience you can. Here are four mistakes that can ruin your business in the eyes of its customers.
Complicated Procedures
Don’t make it inconvenient for your customers to interact with your company. Reliance on automated phones systems, overly-complicated registration forms, questionable payment options, or a lack of feedback channels will only frustrate customers. Every form of interaction should be streamlined to the minimum necessary steps or data entries. Web or computer interfaces and applications should be pleasing, intuitively organized, and responsive. But don’t hide behind your computers—a human touch in providing services is what customers are looking for.
Poor Customer Service
Your call center or customer support hotlines should be optimized for customer satisfaction. Don’t use robotic scripts, but in-depth guidelines that allow staff to interact at a personal level while staying true to company requirements. Customer service personnel need to know how to handle stressful situations, empathize with the customer’s dilemma, and develop fast resolutions. Communication is important, but don’t overdo it—47% of employees see meetings as a waste of time. Use the time to ensure they are well trained.
Inconsistent Results
Maintaining quality and consistency of products or services is important. You can’t let customers feel they’re taking a gamble. Take advantage of qualified project managers to craft solutions. Management candidates can pursue a master’s in project and program management through online courses to help round out their skillsets (get more information here). This will bring greater understanding and appreciation of company operations and problem solving techniques that build better leadership skills and team insights.
Impersonal Approaches
No matter how air-tight and comprehensive you think your policies are, emphasize a personal approach to sales, customer service, and anyone else who interacts with the public. While customers may face the same issues, every customer is different and should be engaged on a personal, human level. They need to feel that they are important to your company, because they are. Address each problem as a new problem and encourage feedback from customers to see what you could have done better.
By putting yourself in the customers’ shoes, you can avoid basic mistakes and ensure that every experience with your company is pleasant and rewarding. That will keep the customers coming back.
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