CUSTOMERS ARE YOUR MAJOR KEY TO SELLING
Posted 06-16-2009 at 07:32 AM by oyezkinnola
Every business organisation should attach importance to creating an exceptional customer service most especially during this period of economic recession. But a lot of businesses find it hard to provide that much needed excellent service that customers deserve.
The truth is that anything that is short of quality customer service can be harmful to your organisation. In the time of economic upheaval, your existing customers’ expectations are high and they could be more problematic than ever. Your organization will most likely start cutting down on some expenses like advertising, marketing, logistic budgets that are not helpful in attracting new customers. So the best alternative in this situation is to try your best to retain your existing and returning customers.
In the economy of today, many top executives begin by cutting down what they feel are not relevant in the running of their organization and a lot of them make the mistake of cutting their expenses on the customer service program. This happens because most of them do not recognise the role of customers in the growth of a business. I believe with all conviction that cutting the customer service budget will be harmful to the smooth running of a business because customer’s reaction matters a lot. Lapses in your customer service quality will lead to your customers being frustrated and will result in them taking a decision that will affect the size of your customer base. This has led to some company’s exit in the business circle and some that are still existing and surviving will be faced with strict competition that could destroy the steps needed to keep them in business such as their prices or offering value added services at no cost.
These companies managing to exist will have to differentiate themselves from their competitors. So the question is how do you provide your customers with that excellent service in this harsh economic environment? The following should give answers to this question.
1. Teach your team members on the need to be aware of the value of providing excellent customer service. In big organisations, 1% increase in the satisfaction of customers could mean as much as a $1,000,000 increase in revenue. When the customer satisfaction begins to depreciate, your company’s revenue starts depreciating as well.
2. Providing constant prompt feedback to your customer agents will lead to a better satisfaction for your customers. Try to invest in an excellent monitoring program. According to a survey, done by a senior manager of customer operations, with the combined services of agent evaluation and customer surveys, they increase satisfaction by 19%, first call resolution by 29% and total problem resolution by 18%. The feedback you give to your agents can also lead to cutting cost and increasing your revenue. It has also been found that regular feedback to your agents motivates them and improves their skills, and this will further the expenses on recruiting and training. According to Mark Steinweg, corporate director of Carlson Leisure Travel Services, by simply increasing the frequency of monitoring and coaching, they significantly increase the revenue generated on calls and reduced average handle time.
3. Outsource your team so as to decrease cost. When you outsource, the vendor can do the heavy lifting of listening and evaluating the calls, emails and chat sessions. With this, the company can spend its valuable time coaching and training agents and can also handle rising volume of calls. According to a recent survey by Techweb Research, three-quarter of companies agreed that they have successfully transformed a business process they have outsourced.
4. Automate as many workflows as possible.
5. Have a strong reporting system in place so as to easily understand what is happening in your call centre and how to make changes that will positively impact your customers.
So the basis for all these is to have tools and processes necessary to solving the complaints of your customers and giving them the satisfaction that they deserve with minimal and limited resources within your reach
For more information about this please visit www.online customersupport.blogspot.com
The truth is that anything that is short of quality customer service can be harmful to your organisation. In the time of economic upheaval, your existing customers’ expectations are high and they could be more problematic than ever. Your organization will most likely start cutting down on some expenses like advertising, marketing, logistic budgets that are not helpful in attracting new customers. So the best alternative in this situation is to try your best to retain your existing and returning customers.
In the economy of today, many top executives begin by cutting down what they feel are not relevant in the running of their organization and a lot of them make the mistake of cutting their expenses on the customer service program. This happens because most of them do not recognise the role of customers in the growth of a business. I believe with all conviction that cutting the customer service budget will be harmful to the smooth running of a business because customer’s reaction matters a lot. Lapses in your customer service quality will lead to your customers being frustrated and will result in them taking a decision that will affect the size of your customer base. This has led to some company’s exit in the business circle and some that are still existing and surviving will be faced with strict competition that could destroy the steps needed to keep them in business such as their prices or offering value added services at no cost.
These companies managing to exist will have to differentiate themselves from their competitors. So the question is how do you provide your customers with that excellent service in this harsh economic environment? The following should give answers to this question.
1. Teach your team members on the need to be aware of the value of providing excellent customer service. In big organisations, 1% increase in the satisfaction of customers could mean as much as a $1,000,000 increase in revenue. When the customer satisfaction begins to depreciate, your company’s revenue starts depreciating as well.
2. Providing constant prompt feedback to your customer agents will lead to a better satisfaction for your customers. Try to invest in an excellent monitoring program. According to a survey, done by a senior manager of customer operations, with the combined services of agent evaluation and customer surveys, they increase satisfaction by 19%, first call resolution by 29% and total problem resolution by 18%. The feedback you give to your agents can also lead to cutting cost and increasing your revenue. It has also been found that regular feedback to your agents motivates them and improves their skills, and this will further the expenses on recruiting and training. According to Mark Steinweg, corporate director of Carlson Leisure Travel Services, by simply increasing the frequency of monitoring and coaching, they significantly increase the revenue generated on calls and reduced average handle time.
3. Outsource your team so as to decrease cost. When you outsource, the vendor can do the heavy lifting of listening and evaluating the calls, emails and chat sessions. With this, the company can spend its valuable time coaching and training agents and can also handle rising volume of calls. According to a recent survey by Techweb Research, three-quarter of companies agreed that they have successfully transformed a business process they have outsourced.
4. Automate as many workflows as possible.
5. Have a strong reporting system in place so as to easily understand what is happening in your call centre and how to make changes that will positively impact your customers.
So the basis for all these is to have tools and processes necessary to solving the complaints of your customers and giving them the satisfaction that they deserve with minimal and limited resources within your reach
For more information about this please visit www.online customersupport.blogspot.com
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