Great Customer Service

In order to be successful at any endeavor, one must recognize the essentials required to accomplish that feat. It’s the exact same in customer service. What essentials are expected to create great customer experiences which result in maximum customer retention? I will give you six features that I believe are key ingredients.

Reliability – Clients expect product/service providers to be dependable and true during interactions. Take your house electricity – as long as you pay the invoice you expect the lights to come on when you flip that switch. Do customers consider your organization to be reliable? These are key factors to providing a great customer experience.

Competence – This attribute measures knowledge and skill level in relation to one’s product/services. If you surveyed your client, what would they say about the level of proficiency exhibited by those within your organization? Internet access allows today’s customer to get knowledge about yours and your competitor’s organization. Once the interaction starts, will your customer understand more about your products/services than front line personnel and others within your organization? Be sure everyone in your organization is a product/service specialist in order to be given a high rating for competency.

Responsiveness – When clients enter your brick and mortar location, call on the telephone, email or start a web chat, how long does it take for someone to acknowledge their existence? One of the most dreaded customer experiences is waiting to be serviced or even just to be acknowledged! How long are your customers waiting for service? When issues arise, how long before the situation is addressed and a settlement provided to the customer? The responsiveness clock is ticking on your customer’s mind while waiting to be serviced or to be given a reply to inquiry.

Courtesy – In my opinion, this one is the easiest characteristics to exhibit. If there is 1 thing which we can all control is our ability to be considerate and kind. All customers deserve common courtesy. Courtesy goes a long way with clients, especially when they’re unhappy with your product/service. Body language and facial expressions also contribute to the courtesy element. What score will your customer contact personnel receive for courtesy?

Credibility – Can your client deem your organization as credible? This characteristic is an image builder. We are taking about trustworthiness here! Does your performance match exactly what you market? Deciding to take the measures necessary to guarantee credibility can help to create a reputation for believability. One act by one person which puts your organization’s credibility into question can be an image killer.

Consistency creates long term clients. Consider this – If your organization is consistently reliable, competent, responsive, courteous and credible, you’re likely providing many great customer experiences. Consistency means establishing a pattern of behavior. Does your customer’s rating of your company indicate a pattern of great behavior about the customer experience? Can your client depend upon your company to give a high level of service every time they choose to use your products/services? The capability to intermittently exercise the five aforementioned features won’t assist in your quest to provide great customer support. When consistency is added, long term retention is typically the outcome. Exercising these characteristics will help your business in its quest to provide great customer experiences!