In the “old days” many stores were family owned and managed. When a customer walked in the door, he was always warmly welcomed, often by name. Today, being greeted by name would come as a shock by most shoppers. Has customer service died with the times? Or have businesses just forgotten how important it really is?

Many stores today are in the Big Box format, with thousands of items for sale under any kind of category one could imagine. This is often a benefit to customers who prefer not having to shop at multiple locations to get everything they need on their errand list. But trying to find help in one of the Big Box stores is often a challenge of its own. When you can find a store employee, it is usually the wrong one from the wrong department – someone who works there, but doesn’t really know much about any one thing. Add this to typically transient workers and you’ve got no real customer service whatsoever. [Read more...]

An agent working in the customer service of your business has a great deal of importance since customers in their search of a certain product that you might have come firstly in contact with the customer service agent who will attend with all the necessary info. The way your agent is actually managing the query or even the complaint of a customer has an effect on the person’s perception of your business evolution.

The best marketing tool that a company could wish for is the advertising made by word of mouth. The referral that comes on behalf of a customer’s satisfaction can not be valued. The way your customer service agent handled their job has lead to this kind of referral. Taking into account the fact that advertising nowadays is pretty expensive the way a customer talks further about your business in front of his colleagues can not be other than satisfactory.

Most of the times the only info a customer has on a company is made through contacting the customer service for the first time. These first times are in fact the ones to keep your business running maybe more then in the case of existing customers’ database that these ones are already there to build your business upon. [Read more...]

Today’s consumers are savvy. They know what they want and they know how to compare products and services. Superior support and customer service is imperative if you want to keep your customers – and keep them happy!

There’s nothing worse than talking to a sales or service rep that doesn’t know their business. It’s common enough for us to be shuffled from department to department via impersonal automated telephone service – we all have to endure that frustration and we don’t like it one bit. But don’t expect to do well if your in-person customer service is lacking quality expertise. While it is important for your staff to be friendly, approachable and polite, if they can’t answer simple questions quickly and efficiently you will find today’s customers not impressed.

Today’s customer will not waste their time asking too many questions that cannot be answered. Being redirected to another person, or even worse, several other people to get the answer they need is going to ensure you lose their business. Your competitor will be the winner here, not you and not your customer either.

Don’t let your customers be another face in the crowd. Make sure your employees know their industry and their job.