Small businesses can use excellent service to appear bigger, in what Salesforce describes as the 'blowfish effect'. SMEs that deliver speedy, personalised and friendly customer service across multiple channels are getting the edge over larger rivals. Review our five ways to improve customer service;
1 - Focus on reducing customer complaints
In any business issues will arise and mistakes will be made. By analysing where and how mistakes are being made and the effect on your customers, you can take action to reduce errors and improve customer satisfaction.
2 - Monitor response times across all channels
If you have a response target on customer emails, make sure this target applies to other channels such as returning calls and replying to Tweets and LinkedIn messages. Failure to respond via social channels can lead to a 15% increase in churn.
3 - Integrate communication channels
If you do have customers contacting you via social channels, integrate responses into your CRM system as you would with your ticketing system, to ensure that your customer records remain up to date. When speaking to customers you then have access to all conversations via multiple channels and will be able to provide a much better service.
4 - Balance price and service
Making sure you have the right amount of agents covering both the sales and support queues is important in busy times, however hiring and developing staff to meet required standards costs money. SMEs who can get the balance right often gain competitive advantage when it comes to attracting and retaining loyal customers.
5 - Use internal intelligence
Small things such as recording when customers are out of contract and proactively contacting them before the contract ends is often well received. With great customer service throughout the duration of the first contract and an excellent deal on a new one, competitors will find it harder to get into your customer base.
80% of new business opportunities come from existing customers, so when you launch a new product or add a new service, target existing customers who have previously expressed a need. Taking the time to add fields such as ‘future interest’ and diligently completing them after every customer contact will help to produce future prospect lists.
SMEs often feel like a small fish in a big pond, but outstanding customer service can help to overcome this. If you can deliver the kind of experience that leads to loyal customers and recommendations, you can put your business in the position to grow.
At Jola we think we understand the importance of customer service, especially the need to provide quick and informed answers when working with the channel. If our partners are pushing us for information to progress a deal or resolve an issue they usually have a customer or prospect putting pressure on them too. Jola’s culture is to focus on our partner’s needs above everything else.
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