How SMEs can ensure great customer service
These five simple steps will help small businesses to give their increasingly discerning customers exactly what they want.
I work with countless small businesses and whether you're running a team of four or a team of 250, I'm hearing one clear message: with increasing competition, customers are becoming more discerning.
They are hungry for information and this places greater importance on customer service. Armed with more options and more choice, customers' expectations of the service they receive are constantly rising.
At the same time, it's probable that the budgets you have available to improve your customer service are dwindling; or will at least remain flat.
Two major questions crop up when looking at how to improve customer service:
- How do you make best use of limited resources to deliver the best possible service today?
- How do you invest wisely to adapt to rapidly changing customer behaviour – which often involves communicating with businesses via social media – while also making sure you keep a long-term grip on the basics that really matter to your customers?
This is a conundrum that faces organisations of all sizes but with some careful planning, it's one that you can start to solve. For me, there are five steps that you can take to deliver fabulous customer service without compromising resources.
The beautiful basics
These days, both large and small businesses are placing increasing emphasis on social and digital communication. However, research commissioned by Vodafone UK shows that people still want to communicate by phone, email or in person. So make sure your customers are always able to contact you on their terms. For most businesses this will mean keeping these core elements as the bedrock of any multichannel or social media strategy.
Feedback, feedback, feedback
Above all, customers want their issues resolved satisfactorily. Companies that solve problems successfully know what both delights and irritates their customers at every single stage of their journey. To help achieve this goal, consider investing more time gathering detailed customer feedback. An easy way for small businesses to do this is by gathering feedback and intelligence via social media.
Social media – do more with less
In addition to helping you to understand how your customers feel about you, social media can also drive new efficiencies. Used as part of your overall service mix, social media have great potential to cut costs within your customer service operation: for example, by giving people an alternative to calling. Small businesses could consider taking this a step further, using social media to build an in-depth customer service capability that will help you work around any potential limited capacity to take calls.
Break down walls
Great customer service is carried out by individuals who feel like they have full responsibility for resolving issues. Equally, great customer service is characterised by a seamless experience regardless of whether it's delivered in a shop, on a PC or on the phone. Are there ways you can help staff share knowledge and insight? Job shadowing across departments or areas of the business might be a good place to start. Making sure managers spend time on customer service issues is even better.
Simple steps to success
Whether you are thinking about adding new channels like social media right now, or simply have them on the to-do list, the key thing to remember is to take it one step at a time. Make a small start, gather feedback along the way, and refine your efforts as you move forward. And remember, just like your business or your phone lines, social media doesn't necessarily have to be 24/7. It's ok to set expectations. Some of the biggest companies in the world confine their social media customer service to office opening hours. If that's the way you prefer it, it's ok for you to do so too.
Neil Niblock - ICON Business Advisor
Email: [email protected]
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