Importance of Customer Service for Any Business
The scientific-technological era transcended so well into the customer-oriented revolution that many of us forgot to differentiate between the two. Back in the 1970s when the point of interest of the entire world was the industrial revolution, many of us did not realize how the next generation business would turn out to be. The interesting thing to realize is that every era has a need and the needs change when businesses fill up the necessary gap. Back then, all of our focus was on the success of various technologies. However, the present world requires businesses to be proactive.
When Harry Gordon Selfridge told us that customer is always right in 1909, not many knew the importance of customer services. At the time, however, customers did not have many options due to which the negligence towards customer services overturned and did not create a drastic impact per se. Nonetheless, as time passed, companies started observing an increase in customer-oriented services and the most famous case study of Nokia’s decline further pushed the businesses to incorporate customer inclinations into their business models.
A study of Harvard Business Review suggests that in the modern business world, adaptability is the major factor that distinguishes between successful and unsuccessful businesses. What we mean by this is that change is inevitable and companies that do not adapt to change smoothly are the ones that often find themselves declining.
Whether it is providing solutions to customers or creating new avenues for customers to dive in, customer orientation is the mood of business today. In the wake of this, we have come up with a customer service guide for business. In this article, we will shed light on the importance of customer services for businesses and will discuss the skills a business needs to provide good customer services.
Importance of customer services
Better revenue levels
The main point of any business is revenue generation and all the decisions are based around the impact on revenue. Recent studies show that the companies working to increase customer satisfaction levels are the ones that report maximum revenue generation. This clearly implies that providing satisfaction to customers works well for businesses on all grounds.
Better brand standing
Companies with a good brand name are likely to grow more in this competitive era of business. The most authentic promotional technique is word of mouth (WOM) and it solely depends on your customers. If a customer goes around in his/her social circle and supports your brand, it is a major win for the entire company. All of these reasons that offering a good experience to customers adds to your brand positivity.
Another concept of marketing is delighting the customers instead of only satisfying them. Customer delight is a concept that states exceeding a customer’s expectations can induce positive delighting emotion. More and more companies are working towards this model now.
Increase brand loyalty
Brand loyalty or customer retention are the two sides of the same coin. Businesses that understand the worth of customers for their success are the ones that can retain customers and are able to make them loyal as well.
If a business wants to grow, inducing loyalty to customers is the easiest way. Did you know that acquiring new customers is 5 to 25 percent expensive than retaining customers? Furthermore, customers are offered so many alternatives that they do not need your brand as much you need their support. A recent research report suggests that engaged customers are likely to bring 23 percent more profit and revenue relatively.
Better CLV
CLV or Customer Lifetime Value is directly related to the revenue generation of a business. It is the money estimation that a customer is likely to invest in a said business during his/her lifetime.
Many new studies show that engaged customers are likely to invest 90% more in your products and services.
Business longevity
The survival of businesses depends entirely on their customers. Here, we will like to drop Nokia as an example again. Satisfied or delighted customers are able to support your business in financial as well as business aspects.
Things you need to provide excellent customer services
Most businesses have inculcated technology to better their customer services and that has worked for the better in almost all cases. For example, the inclusion of chatbots has eased businesses financially and labor-wise.
Speeding up communications has increased the convenience level of customers, which ultimately, channels power into customer satisfaction. However, all of the technological advances in this regard rely on a high-speed internet connection and so if your business wants to include the newest technology in customer satisfaction, you need to subscribe to a good internet plan for commercial use. What we have learned is that Spectrum packages for businesses are budget-friendly and offer super fast and heavy bandwidth internet for all commercial purposes.
Some important skills to offer proficient customer services are discussed in this section:
Interpersonal Skills
Customer services require you to be a people person. Persuasion, empathy, and patience are the three main skills that are crucial for customer service. It is important to note that most customers contact you when they are annoyed and frustrated and so customer representatives need to be able to provide a solution to them with tolerance and compassion.
Attentiveness
In any sort of conversation, listening is an important skill to have. However, when it comes to customer services, you need to be extra attentive and proficient in listening. If you are not a good listener, you would not be able to understand the problem of the customer which ultimately will annoy the customer even more.
Emotional intelligence
Your emotional intelligence quotient works really well in customer satisfaction. Emotional intelligence allows you to sense the issues of your customers and interact accordingly. Furthermore, it is key to engage customers in a wholesome manner.
Problem-solving skills
In most cases, customers are not entirely aware of their issues and so it is essential that are able to not only understand the issue but also be able to solve it. Here, another important skill to have is time management.
A good customer service rep can anticipate the problem or need of the customer and might offer to go the extra mile.
Positive attitude
The most important innate skill that you require to be a good customer service rep is optimism or a positive attitude. Your verbal and non-verbal language should always depict a positive tone.
Most customer service experts suggest the use of positive words and phrases like ‘happy to help’, ‘I understand how you must be feeling,’ and ‘Thanks for bringing that to my attention,’ etc.
Product Knowledge
Having an in-depth knowledge of whatever product or service you are offering is crucial. Without sound knowledge, you cannot provide correct assistance to your customers. Most companies provide comprehensive training to their customer service reps making it easy to transcend information in a better way.
Work Ethic
All professions have one thing in common and that is good work ethic. Whether you are a smart student or a hardworking employee, work ethics are the key to stepping ahead. Same is the case with customer service, a good work ethic and the willingness to go the extra mile is a critical skill.
The Last Word
An Oracle report of 2011 suggested that more than 85 percent of customers are likely to pay more for an improved customer experience. Realizing the importance of customer services for business is as important as the importance of carbs for a person.
We hope that this article helped you understand the importance and skills required for customer services. Good luck!
