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Suffering from myopic customer service?
“The view of customer service as a separate business function will evolve into a view of service as an integral part of key business processes.” – Gartner Predicts 20041 It’s high time that the prediction above proved to be true and precise. Businesses seem to have a rather cramped view of this realm and continue…
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Outsourcing customer service – should you or not?
Outsourcing is undertaken when a company wishes to offload some of the expenses and hassles of dealing with too much headcount. External agencies are given the responsibility of hiring, training and maintaining a headcount allowing the company to focus on other strategic processes. Outsourcing customer service is also a common practice. There are however, some…
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Customer’s Trust
“Trust is the basis of any customer-provider relationship. Without trust; you have no relationship” – Robert W Lucas Trust is being able to stand stolid and be able to believe in the capability, word or actions of someone. Without trust most human relationships and interactions would be baseless and meaningless. A customer’s trust is also…
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Strategies for Successful Service Recovery
“The true test of a business’ customer service effort is not when things are going right – but rather what is done when things go wrong” – Steve Ferrante Despite some minor details that vary, the general opinion in business circles is that retaining a customer costs relatively lower than attracting and gaining a new…
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Do not take your Customers for Granted
“I’m blessed to be able to work at something that I’m good at, and that I love. It’s not something I take for granted.”- Emmylou Harris Taking things for granted is that awful mistake we all make, albeit inadvertently. In all of the strategic errors that companies, even market leaders, make is of taking their…
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Building Customer Relationships
“The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.”- Shiv Singh A large part of customer service is also delivered at the stage of selling. Such customer service representatives should focus not just on providing the relevant information regarding the product or service but also aim at building customer relationships that…
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Customer Service Breakdowns Must Be Managed
Photo by MART PRODUCTION “Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.”- Henry Ford This is great advice! We cannot deny that human imperfections are bound to be the cause of lapses. In the business realm too, there is no absence of customer service breakdowns. Despite stiff…
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Companies and Customers – understanding each other
“If you understand everything, you must be misinformed” – Japanese Proverb In the rapidly changing market environment it is never possible to know everything about customers since what is known today becomes obsolete the next. Companies and Customers understanding each other, is about companies constantly monitoring the customers words, their behavior and needs. When companies…
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Aligning Customer Service with Organizational Goals
Businesses have goals and the main being keeping customers happy throughout their journey with the company. Since the customer service is all about them, it would make sense that companies align customer service with organizational goals to get a well-rounded and sustainable business. Starting from the top level to the most basic level in the…
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Dispel Active Listening Misconceptions
“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention”.- Rachel Naomi Remen Each of us is listening or pretending to listen daily in different situations and with different people. Sometimes the pretence is discovered and…
