We all want to be able to offer everything to everyone but every successful business owner knows this is not just impossible, but it’s also not desirable. One of the keys to owning a successful business or managing a high-performance service delivery department is knowing who you are in the market and knowing what your customers can expect from you – and then perfecting the “how” they experience it.
The first important thing to recognise is that globally, customer expectations are rising and with this comes increased competition, so if you’re not paying careful attention to how you can not just manage your customers’ expectations properly, but deliver on enhancing that promise, your competition is. Advances in technology have completely changed the way we interact with our client base, collect data, analyse data and formulate operational plans and knowing how to turn all of that information into workable, measurable results will make a big difference in your client retention and after all, that’s what it’s all about.
#1 HOW ARE YOU RESPONDING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS?
What is the most used method of communicating with your customers? Telephone, email, SMS campaigns, social media or call to action email campaigns. Knowing which of these methods is being the most widely used by your clients will help you determine if you’re using this method efficiently and if it’s the best method to be using for that particular level of engagement at all. For example, if the majority of your customers contact you via telephone, are you sure that your contact centre/client centre operations are running as optimally as possible? Apply that same logic to other forms of contact.
#2 ARE YOU TAKING CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS HOLISTICALLY?
Think about every possible way that your customers interact with your business – then think about all the ways that that contact could go wrong and how many of those ways you have already planned for. Take payments for example, have you taken every possible precaution when it comes to collecting credit card payments from your clients online? With the continued rise in online fraud more sophisticated and secure systems like 3D secure payments are constantly being developed to help you take care of your customers.
#3 ARE YOUR SERVICE STAFF SUFFICIENTLY TRAINED?
Your sales staff are likely the first people that your customers will come into contact with when dealing with your business, so they’re the most obvious teams to keep ahead of the pack when it comes to staying abreast with the latest developments, products or advances in your companies service or product offering. However, the training buck doesn’t stop there, of equal importance is your customer service team, your logistics team and your finance team. In fact, (yep) your entire organisation will benefit from regular training on all the moveable parts that impact your business. Failing to train your team is like planning for your team to fail. There is a far greater risk to your business by having teams of untrained staff versus staff that you trained who leave the company later on and your online customer service is no exception.
#4 ANTICIPATE YOUR CUSTOMERS NEEDS BUT DON’T ASSUME YOU KNOW THEM
Over time you should have been able to collect all sorts of data that relates to the overall experience your customers have with your business (and if you haven’t, it’s time to get busy) so you should also have a pretty good idea of what it is that your customers want from you. This is dangerous territory, potentially. Your non-confrontational customers might give you an “easier ride” on a day to day basis but that also means that you won’t know the reasons why they leave when they do.
Make an extra effort to create policies that retain your difficult customers and incentivise feedback from them. You can learn much more about your business from a disgruntled customer than you can from a non-confrontational one. Note: non-confrontational does not automatically mean “happy”.
#5 COMMUNICATE, CONSTANTLY
This is especially important when things go wrong. Nothing is more frustrating for customers than a state of “incommunicado” when things have not gone according to plan and this is where many small and even big business fails. Your customers will be far more understanding about lapses in service delivery when you’re the one to tell them that it’s going to happen or has happened and more importantly, what you’re going to do about it. From the time an event takes place, the clock is ticking and what you do next is going to make all the difference.
All around us, innovation means that it’s easier than ever to find new suppliers and new sources and so it’s more important than ever to keep a holistic eye on what it is your customers expect from you but when you’re really successful you’ll be controlling the agenda.
