Customer Service Strategies

What is the most important thing you can do to improve relationships with
Your customers? The answer is as obvious as it is overlooked: improve
Customer service. No matter how great your product is or how talented your
Staff is, one of the things that customers are most likely to remember is the
Direct interaction they have with your company.
Objectives:
1. Know and Understand ways to improve team’s Customer Service Skills.
2. Know and Understand Customer Service Strategies
3. Be Familiar to the Customer Care needed in the Philippine Business
Enterprise.
A strong company will already have great customer relationships. But a
Smart company will always be asking “What is good customer service?” If you
Are not constantly on the lookout for opportunities to improve your
Customer service, then your relationships will stagnate. Here are a few
Customer service tips for identifying ways to better serve customers.
You can also include motivations before you formally begin your module.
Keys to Improve your team’s Customer Service Skills

1. Strengthen your customer service skills

First, it’s important to make sure that your customer service team has the
Right skills for your managing customers’ needs. No amount of CRM software
Can compensate for shortcomings in this area. But what skills should you be
Looking for in a customer service rep?
Empathy, patience and consistency. Some customers will be irate. Others
Will be full of questions. And others will just be chatty. You must know how
To handle all of them and provide the same level of service every time.
Adaptability. Every customer is different, and some may even seem to
Change week-to-week. You should be able to handle surprises, sense the
Customer’s mood and adapt accordingly. This also includes a willingness to
Learn- providing good customer service is a continuous learning process.
Clear communication. Ensure you convey to customers exactly what you
Mean. You don’t want your customer to think he’s getting 50% off when he’s
Actually getting 50% more product. Use authentically positive language, stay
Cheerful no matter what and never end a conversation without confirming
The customer is satisfied.
Work ethics. Customers appreciate a rep who will see their problem
Through to its resolution. At the same time, you must have good time
Management skills and not spend too much time handling one customer
While others are waiting. Stay focused on your goals to achieve the right
Balance.
Knowledge. Ultimately your customers rely on you for their knowledge of
Your product. Stay informed enough to respond to most inquiries and know
Where to turn if the questions become too detailed or technical for you to
Answer. But don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” either. Customers will
Appreciate the honesty and your efforts to find the right answer.
Thick skin. The customer’s always right... right? The ability to swallow one’s
Pride and accept blame or negative feedback is crucial. Whether your team
Works directly with customers or looking for feedback on social media,
They’ve got to keep the customer’s happiness in mind.
Not sure if your reps have the right customer service skills? Survey or
Interview your customers to understand whether your service team is
Showing each of these traits. Running a customer feedback survey through
Your CRM program, at the point of sale, or when you send customers an
Invoice is a great way to see where your team’s skills do and don’t measure
Up.
2. Look at every touch point
A bad customer experience at any point in the customer lifecycle can ruin
Your relationship. In addition to making sure the right skills are
Demonstrated, you need to be sure they’re being demonstrated consistently.
Pay the most attention to key touch points, but make sure you have a full
View of the customer experience, or you risk lapses in service that can really
Hurt business.
3. Improve your customer interactions
If your staff has the necessary skill set, that’s a good start. But they still need
To relate to your customers. Here are some tips for making sure customer
Service is both thorough and well received:
Ask reps to try to identify a common ground-like shared interests-with the
People they help. Having this point of understanding makes conflict easier to
Overcome by humanizing the relationship, and it endears customers to your
Rep (and ultimately your company).
Practice active listening so your customers feel heard. Clarify and rephrase
What the customers say to ensure you understand them. Empathize with and
Reflect their feelings by saying things like, “That must have upset you” or “I
Can see why you feel slighted.”
Admit your mistakes, even if you discover them before your customers do.
This builds trust and restores confidence. It also allows you to control the
Situation, re-focus the customer’s attention and resolve the issue.
Follow-up after a problem is solved. Make sure the issue stays fixed and that
Your customers were satisfied with the service. Sending an email, or even a
Feedback survey is an excellent way to let the customer know you’re still on
Their side.
4. Enhance your customer service strategy
Your staff may have the skills and know-how to interact with your
Customers. But what organizational strategies can you employ to please
Customers? Practice proactive customer service by making your customers
Happy before they come to you with problems. Here’s how:
Get personal. Your customers want to feel like they have access to real
People, not bots and FAQs. Offer more than just automated email responses,
And do not let your telephone prompts or website send them down a rabbit
Hole. Take full advantage of social media (such as Facebook, Twitter and
Help) and write responses when your customers post on your page. Post
Photos and bios on your website. This shows your customers that you are
Real people working on their behalf.
Be available. Part of the personal touch is making sure your customers can
Reach you. For example if your business is primarily online, meet in person
Occasionally with local customers and offer video calls (such as Skype) for
Those farther away. Work early and late when needed, especially if your
Customers are in different time zones. Even providing customers with your
Physical address helps build their trust and reminds them that your company
Exists off the internet as well.
Cater to your customers. Make sure you are fully meeting your customers’
Needs. Consider assigning reps to specific customers so they can build a
Relationship. Offer VIP treatment for your best customers to let them know
They are appreciated. What special services might your customers like? Set
Up focus groups, interview customers, or run a survey to get ideas.
Create communities. Your customers will feel even more valued if you treat
Them as important members of a community. You can bring various
Customers together in numerous ways, including webinars, interactive
Websites, social media, trade shows and conventions. And don’t forget that
While your customers come to these forums to learn from you, you can learn
As much-if not more-from them.
5. Make sure your reps are engaged
You can have the best customer service skills and the best training in the
World, but if your reps are checked out, it won’t matter at all. Improving
Employee engagement is another way to make sure customers have a great
Experience. Dissatisfied employees are unlikely to come forward with their
Problems, so consider an anonymous suggestion box or an employee
Engagement survey to see what makes your employees tick.
You’ll want to know how your customer service team feels about working
Conditions and compensation, opportunities for career advancement,
Training and their peers. Our employee engagement template offers a good
Overview. We’ve also compiled benchmark engagement data to help you
Understand how your employees’ engagement compares to other companies.
Since engagement can vary from industry to industry, you may also want to
Look at more specific data through a service like Survey Monkey Benchmarks.
6. Give your customers a way to provide feedback
No matter how proactive you are, you’ll never be able to get in front of every
Customer issue. To make sure you learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly
Experience your customers have, create an easily accessible way for
Customers to give feedback.
Whether it’s a phone survey at the end of a service call, an email survey sent
Directly from your CRM tool, or a form on the “Contact Us” page of your
Website, creating a means for customers to give feedback makes it easier for
You to learn what needs improvement. It also helps keep unhappy customers
From voicing their displeasure on highly visible places like your social media
Pages.
Whatever steps you choose to take, remember feedback’s importance to
Customer satisfaction. Unsure what your strengths and weaknesses are?
Don’t know why the numbers are dipping? Make an effort to get closer both
To your customers and your reps.
Not only will you discover touchpoints and skills that need improvement, but
Your customers will see that are dedicated to providing top-notch, proactive
Customer service.

Steps to Improve Customer Service

1. Give all your employees excellent product knowledge.
When everyone in your company can act as support, customers can get their
Questions answered promptly.
Saving your customers a call to the help desk goes a long way toward making
Them happy.
2. Train employees in customer empathy.
Customer interactions are emotional exchanges as well as factual ones, so
Give your employees the tools to share a happy customer’s enthusiasm or
Reduce a frustrated customer’s tension.
When your staff members make customers feel truly listened to and not
Simply heard, customer satisfaction rises. You can try proven methods which
Have led to better customer empathy in call centers.
3. Build infrastructure that supports great customer service.
That means offering ticket tracking, streamlined self-help options on your
Website and call-backs instead of lengthy hold times.
Customers perceive looking up a tracking number or reading frequently
Asked questions as less effort than calling a customer care center, so offering
These options increases satisfaction.
4. Resolve customer issues at their first point of contact.
Harvard researchers noted that having to repeat a problem to a chain of
Customer service representatives was intensely frustrating for customers.
Improve first contact resolution by ensuring that the person who initially
Handles the call takes full responsibility for it until the customer’s concern is
Resolved.
Offering live chat support on your website allows for more collaboration
Behind the scenes. Experienced agents can effectively mentor new hires by
“whispering” answers to them as they chat with customers.
5. Empower your employees to make customers happy.
To your customers, any member of your staff becomes the face of your
Company. When your employees have the power to please customers, they
Make your whole organization shine.
Instead of focusing on speed and productivity, give your frontline employees
Permission to take the time they need to make each customer feel valued.
6. Deliver on your promises.
Every package that arrives on time or product that works as intended
Reinforces your customers’ trust in you.
Customers don’t want you to promise them the moon as much as they want
You to deliver it on time and with a smile.
7. Make it personal
Apologize quickly and sincerely if you’re unable to meet your promises for
Any reason. 1 Make the apology personal and not just a form letter.
Setting things right quickly for your customer will go a long way toward
Restoring that low-effort experience your clientele prefers.
If you give your customers the most effortless experience, they’ll choose you
Over the competition every time.

Effective, Long-Term Customer Service Strategies - Philippine Business Setting

The immediate nature of customer service (“I need a replacement part
now!") plus corporate emphasis on quarterly profits often results in
companies' failure to develop a long-term strategy for customer service.
Pride, misplaced priorities, short-term profit orientation and a failure to
understand the realities of today's competitive service economy are all
reasons why service strategies don't get the serious attention they deserve.
Even if customer service structures and tools are in place today, they'll likely
need to be different tomorrow. Customer service isn't a quick fix or a policy
to be implemented one time that lasts forever. Instead, managers should
view customer service as a long-term strategy on par with other critical
business functions and worth the most advanced thinking. It requires
unremitting management commitment and employee enthusiasm over a long
period, so that outstanding service can continue to work its magic on
customer loyalty.
Initiating a service program, giving it a noisy send-off, then publishing a
quarterly motivational article in the company newsletter, plastering the walls
with posters, and sending an annual letter to employees extolling the
importance of service are all well and good. But don't expect employees will
read the article and spontaneously deliver good service. They won't.
These three important service strategies are more than business initiatives;
they're attitudes that should be embedded and celebrated throughout the
organization.
1. Service as a product. Most buyers don't have the technical knowledge
they need to make the best choices when they're purchasing products such
as electronics, software, cars or home appliances. They want reassurance
that support and service will be available if problems arise. View service as
yet another deliverable you offer, one with real value.
2. The customer is the boss. One service-minded company, Bio-Lab, has a
mission statement that places the customer at the center of nearly every
business function. The statement reads:
"The mission of the customer service department is to retain and to
encourage increased business from customers by efficiently and courteously
satisfying their needs with respect to ordering, shipping, invoicing, handling
claims and adjustments, and responding to inquiries, complaints, and related
activities."
This slogan "The Customer Is the Boss" appears on signs in every office
of Bio-Lab. But it's more than a message; it's grounded in the company's very
core.
3. Strive for reliability. Reliability means consistent performance that meets
the expectations of all your customers all the time. Admittedly, this is ideal.
But a superior service program will come very close to achieving the ideal.

DON’T FORGET TO EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES

Companies often throw up roadblocks complicated approval processes,
Sales initiatives, scripts that dictate customer communications — that hinder
Employees from exercising judgment and doing the right thing.
It’s critically important to examine and to correct any policy or process that
Gets in the way of employee performance. Even in companies that are not
Particularly customer-focused, most employees believe in and take pride
In providing excellent service. A company should instead offer guidelines
That allow for flexible and situationally appropriate decision-making to
Resolve customer problems.
Companies that view service through a single lens
That of customer
Complaints are missing the larger, longer-term picture. Service isn’t just a
Game plan to satisfy unhappy customers; it’s an ongoing strategy that makes
Every interaction between every employee and every customer at every
Contact point a positive one.

Develop a service strategy (Philippine Setting)

Fortune magazine defines service strategy as “knowing exactly which
Customers you want to serve and figuring out what kind of service will loosen
Their purse strings.”
Strategy must be developed and implemented through impartial analysis,
Skilled people management, intense concentration and commitment – along
With serious spending.
Begin by analyzing these areas:
1. All policies and procedures they must be customer oriented.
2. Work flow – it should promote reliable delivery of customer orders.
The company’s capability to react to unexpected events- create a
Contingency plan that ensures service to customers will continue
Uninterrupted when the computer blows up or a tornado blows in.
3. Customer wants and needs they must be considered at every step.
The goal of any service strategy should be to systematize – to
Institutionalize – a customer service program that’s well established, for
The long term, in the culture of the company.
Why customer experience is important?
• Higher customer referral rates and customer satisfaction were
Reported by a study of 860 corporate executives who increased their
Investment in customer experience (Strativity Group, 2009)
• It eases customer acquisition, drives customer loyalty and improves
Customer retention (Beyond Philosophy, 2013).
• Increases customer satisfaction. When a customer is WOW’d by the
Experience and has their expectations exceeded, it increases customer
Satisfaction.
• Reduces customer churn. People want to buy from places that make
Them feel good. Creating an experience that is memorable and
Enjoyable for the customer will help to keep them coming back for
More and not churning away.
• Create a competitive advantage and differentiation. No longer can you
Compete on price, customers want more, and they want emotional
Connections with the companies they deal with. Create that
Experience that keeps them coming back for more. This will create a
Point of differentiation that you can use as a competitive advantage.
• A report by Econsultancy found that just 20% of companies have a
Well-developed customer experience strategy. Big opportunity for
Companies who are willing to invest in the customer experience.
Customer Experience Strategies
They found the leaders in customer experience to pursue three imperatives
Simultaneously.
a) Designing the right experience-focused value propositions
The companies delivering a truly outstanding customer experience divide
Customers into segments and design experience-focused value propositions
For each one. They tailor and design customer experiences for different
Customers.
Vodafone offers a great example. Unlike traditional mobile phone companies
Who might segment users based on country alone, Vodafone segments their
Customers into high-priority global segments: “young, active, fun” users,
Occasional users, and a handful of others.
In designing the value propositions for each segment, the entire customer
Experience was at the forefront. The ‘young, active, fun’ users were offered
Vodafone live!, a state-of-the-art service that provided everything from
Games and pop-song ringtones to new, sport and information (this was back
In 2005). Occasional users were offers Vodafone Simple, which provided an
‘uncomplicated and straightforward mobile experience’.
b) Delivering value to the customer
The best companies deliver these value propositions by focusing the entire
Company on delivering them. An emphasis is put on cross-functional
Collaboration. For instance, the marketing team and supply chain team are in
Line across the whole customer experience; they know and deliver a
Consistent value proposition.
CRM tools can help with this. They offer a way to keep all customer data in
One place, and give multiple department’s access to that information. Sales
People can add information which can trigger specific actions. Customer
Support or supply chain can jump in, know what segment the customer is in,
And then deliver a customer experience that has been defined for them.
Tracking the metrics behind delivering the customer experience can get
Tricky. I recommend measuring it using a Net Promoter Score or a customer
Satisfaction too like Client Heartbeat.
You can sync Client Heartbeat up to most CRM’s, and measure exactly how
Happy (or unhappy) your customers are. Use this data to analyze how
Effective your customer experience strategies are, and make better business
Decisions using actionable customer feedback.
c) Developing the capabilities to do it again and again
The 8% of companies who offer superior customer experience have
Developed their capabilities to please customers again and again. They have
Systems in place to deliver a consistent customer experience over and over
Again.
The leaders also know how to keep innovating and improving the experience.
They have tools to help with customer-focused planning and executing; they
Know what customer-based metrics need tracking; and offer customer-
Focused management incentives to keep their employees goals in line with
The company’s goals.