How to Improve Your Company's Customer Service

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Improving Your Customer Service: React Before the Customer Realizes Anything Is Wrong

You'll gain tremendous loyalty by solving a problem before the customer voices a complaint – especially if it is addressed by a low-level employee. Let's say a diner hasn't touched his or her food. If the waiter asks specific questions (I noticed you haven't touched your chicken. Did it taste okay?) and replaces the dish or removes it from the bill, it is "exponentially more beneficial," says Fromm, than if the customer leaves unsatisfied and hungry. A manager should follow up with customers about their experiences, but having to call one in draws out the problem and forces the unhappy customer to dwell on the complaint.

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Improving Your Customer Service: Localize Support

For some industries, an in-person exchange is vital to return or repair a product, and so companies should make their addresses, hours and directions readily available. Of course, you save a lot of money by outsourcing call centers, especially if you're a shipping or financial services company that deals mainly with numbers and straightforward data. But businesses need to train outsourced employees and make sure they can communicate with all types of clients. Dewar stresses, "Heavy accents cause a lot of trouble. … People have to be able to understand the customer calling in," and vice-versa.

And don't forget to list a telephone number. Sending customers down an endless rabbit hole of dropdown menus and FAQ listings should never take the place of a prominently displaying a direct line to a company employee. 

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Improving Your Customer Service: After Solving the Problem, Keep in Touch

Pay attention to service calls, since one complaint may be indicative of a larger issue. Does the company's internal infrastructure make it easy for employees to misenter a code that later results in a billing problem? Burns says that a close watch is vital if you sell complicated products, like financial services, where it may be difficult to follow instructions or understand arcane jargon.

And the conversation shouldn't stop there. Every relationship is a two-street, and customers deserve the chance to let you know how they're feeling. Offer exit surveys for users to describe their visit to your site or experience with a crisis. Soliciting questionnaires from online shoppers is especially key for retail companies, who can communicate with visitors who decide not to buy.

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Improving Your Customer Service: Make It Easy to Leave

Sometimes, your company simply isn't a good fit for the customer. But the more difficult you make it to leave, Dewar says, the more ill will you'll generate. Cable companies like Comcast, for example, insist that customers personally deliver their cable boxes before closing an account, and often require them to wait for hours at service centers in order to do so. Dewar warns, "It may look smart to try to make captive of a customer but if they have good reason to leave or they don't like you, all you've achieved is planting a time bomb that'll get you sooner."

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Improving Your Customer Service: Additional Resources

crmsoftware360.com
A database of over 100 CRM programs, reviewed by industry and business size that will improve your customer service online.

Customer Lifetime Value by V Kumar. Now Publishers, Inc., 2008. This book details Kumar's research and support for forward-thinking strategies about detecting which customers will be most profitable in the long run – and how to retain them. His other books can be found here.

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. Harvard Business School Press, 2008. This book, authored by social media experts at Forrester Research, offers practical strategies for companies looking to tap into social technologies like blogs, Facebook and YouTube.

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