Excellent customer service is a rare thing. Many businesses are too busy trying to maximize their profits in the short term to consider the long term implications of not prioritizing customer service. They should instead define a plan to implement good customer service skills within their organization.
The truth is that providing stellar customer service doesn’t have to be too difficult, or costly. With a few customer service tips in your back pocket, you can quickly show your customers and clients how much you care.
The best thing you can do is think like your customers! If a cleaning service was cleaning your home, what would be important to you? How would you like them to treat you? Would it be important to have them touch base with you to see how things are going or would you rather wait for a problem to occur?
Here are a few customer service tips you can do in order to improve your relationship with your clients:
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Respond Quickly
This is arguably the most important part of a customer service process that generates high customer satisfaction. If a person can call you up and have a real person on the line within just a minute or so, they’ll likely be quite impressed.
Likewise if they get a fast response to an e-mail they sent. However, the opposite is also true – taking too long to provide a response will cause customers to become frustrated and angry with your company.
This doesn’t mean you have to be “on call” every hour of the day. It’s perfectly fine to have a voice message pickup their call and reassure them you will return the call. Just tell them what to expect: 1) when you will return, and 2) when they can expect a return call.
What really makes people unhappy is when you have a voice message on your phone that is out-dated or contains no reliable information. When I was working in the field, I put that on my message and told them when I would call them back. Most importantly, I always followed-up on what they were told on the message.
Human Contact
These days everyone is scrambling to automate as many parts of their business as possible, including customer service. While much of it can actually be automated to some degree without sacrificing too much in quality, there will always be situations that call from the help of human support. It may be tempting to try to “hide” this option from customers, for example by making them go through a lengthy questionnaire before being able to talk to a real person, but that’s just shooting yourself in the foot, and is bound to decrease satisfaction with your customer service.
Maybe you think you’re too busy and don’t have time for direct contact. That may be true, so make sure you setup a process that let’s them know you’ll get back to them as quickly as possible.
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Respect Your Customers
Both you and your employees should do your best to respect customers, no matter what the situation is, or what they think of you and your company. Always remember to remain calm and never let your emotions take charge, even if a customer is pushing all of your buttons. If it’s a situation that just cannot seem to be resolved, offer them a refund and “fire” them as customers.
Let Your Customers Know You Appreciate Them
We look for good reviews and testimonials from our best customers and usually forget they need to hear from us too! Sending them a quick eMail to thank them for being a loyal client, leaving a thank you flyer or card after a service, or even posting a general appreciation post on your social media page will leave a lasting impression.
Include a visual like the ones we offer for social media posting.
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Treat Your Workers Well
Keeping your workers happy is essential if you want them to provide good service to your customers. If they get unhappy on the job, chances are they’ll take it out on your customers and everyone loses.
If, on the other hand, you compensate them appropriately for their hard work, and offer them a great work environment, it is likely that they’ll treat your customers well and leave them with a positive impression of your company. If you decide to reward them for good performance, make sure you’re measuring actual customer satisfaction, not just the absence of complaints. Many customers who are unhappy with your service do not call to discuss the issue with the company. Instead, they find another service to replace you!
What to do Next
This is a good start to implementing customer service for your business. But did you know that excellent customer service can also improve sales and help to retain customers? Click here to learn more.
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One reply on “4 Key Aspects Of Excellent Customer Service for Your Residential Cleaning Business”
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