Where has all the customer service gone?
In today’s global economy, outsourcing of customer service/support to other regions by large corporations has become commonplace. A key issue with this strategy is that employees are not on site or tuned into the day-to-day culture, operations and decision making of the corporation which can be problematic. Because they are not involved in the company culture on the same level, often , the customer experience will be less than satisfactory and will not lead to a positive outcome or perception. Both of these are crucial to cultivating customer loyalty.
The rising cost of doing business today along with the pressure to remain competitive while profitable for most is quite significant. This revenue-first mindset is causing many corporations to focus less on the customer service experience and more on their bottom line. This short sightedness will often cause many to lose the understanding along the way of how crucial customer service is to the success of any given company.
We believe and know that without great customer service and an experience that’s positive from start to finish, our customers likely won’t feel valued, which can ultimately translate into how they perceive our products and our company. Although we believe in our products and work hard to have a nimble engineering and design team, our companies’ culture is rooted in putting our customer, and customer service, as a huge priority.
Its not uncommon for us to hear comments like “thanks for getting back to me so quickly” or “thanks for the update” as it appears that many customers today have become comfortable and complacent about lacking customer service. In their corporate DNA, organizations should that a customer service team functions not only as an integral part of the sales process, but also as a gateway to customer satisfaction. Our top 5 tips to efficiently improve your customer service experience include:
- Hire good people and train them well – They are your first line and set the tone for your relationship going forward.
- Instill your customer first corporate values as a company-wide viewpoint, and have your team buy in – Success comes from treating customers how you want to be treated
- Build strong customer relationships – Find some commonality with your customers. It’s the strength of any given relationship that helps your team navigate through the good times and the bad with relative ease.
- With unlimited options today, customers buy from you because they want to, not because they have to – Do it right the first time and communicate clearly and effectively, even when an update isn’t expected.
- Manage Customer Expectations – Have the courage to tell it like it is and set the proper expectations. Under promise and over deliver.
To shift gears to the positive side of the equation, we must also reflect on the companies that get it right. A few larger-sale companies we believe succeed at customer service include Apple and Amazon. In our experience, Apple does an excellent job of making you feel like they understand your situation and will do anything to remedy the problem while Amazon makes their contact info easy to find and has a general customer-first approach that makes the entire process, particularly returns, seamless and easy. While you may shop at these places due to lower pricing (Amazon in particular), really, what you’re getting out of it is ease, convenience and a feeling that you, the customer will be satisfied with the outcome .
Convenience, reliability, flexibility and cultivating strong relationships are the key ingredients we at Mimo focus on everyday that make the difference for our customers, and ultimately builds strong customer loyalty.
Nov 14, 2019 • Posted by Omarbuya
great job