Tips for Providing Excellent Customer Services, Part Two

In the first part, we said that small business owners may not always be able to beat bigger competitors in terms of price. But in the field of services, you can outperform them. With proper systems and processes and effective advertising, you can train your team to provide excellent services to customer and make your business stand out in a competitive market. Your employees are the front line of your business and how they interact with customer issues is up to you. Use the following tips to train your team to provide excellent service to customers.

5.Encourage active listening

Customer service is about solving customer problems. And you can’t diagnose and solve these problems without actively listening to the customer. Fortunately, active listening is a skill that your employees can learn. Here are some important tips that will help them to actively provide excellent services to customer:

Face the customer and make eye contact
Don’t interrupt them when they are talking or complaining
Listen without judgment or quick conclusion
Focus only on what they are saying – don’t start planning to provide excellent service to customers and be ready to answer
Pay attention to non-verbal cues (body language, tone of voice, etc.)
Ask them about the details to provide better and excellent service to customers

Often, what customers want most is your listening. As small business owners, if you try these tips, you will be impressed by the better customer service conversations.

6.Talk to your employees about providing excellent services

Training employees to provide excellent services to customer is important. But it is also important to get in the habit of talking to your employees about what they see in the front line of interacting with customers. Inviting them to have ongoing conversations about their customer experiences is very important. And this is something that small business owners may miss! Effective communication with customers is the best advertisement for your small brand.

Employees need constant feedback to increase their knowledge and confidence when dealing with customers. Periodic employee reviews are also useful to understand their performance and how they cope with challenges. Ultimately, this “ongoing conversation” should be a two-way street. By encouraging your team to communicate openly, honestly and regularly, make communication safe.

7.Be patient and empathetic with customers

At the heart of all excellent customer services are respectful communication. When you model patience and empathy for your employees – and make this respectful way of interacting with each other part of your business culture – your employees will show the same patience and empathy to your customers. These important points include involving employees in decision making, expressing concern for employees’ goals and interests, and sharing your feelings, all great ways to model empathy and patience for your employees.

8.Use technology to help provide excellent services to customers

In addition to training your employees to provide excellent services to customer, you need to invest in technology to help the customer service process. Technology is also available for customers and sellers. Often, a technology itself is an effective advertisement and differentiation for attracting customers from competitors.

Customer-facing technology:

Customer self-service portal: A digital knowledge base or FAQ where customers can find answers to their questions and issues.

Chat bots: Intelligent technology that works through potential problems and sales, answering common questions (such as service hours, pricing plans, and return policies) with solutions that respond in seconds from any post on your page or messaging app.

According to research, 69% of customers try to solve their problems. Therefore, small business owners can use the knowledge base or FAQ to help customers find independent solutions to their problems.
How to provide excellent service to customers

Training employees to provide excellent services to customers is to teach them properly how to provide good service to customers in your business and create a culture that shows the same values. Get in the habit of doing customer service training at least every six months. Try these tips, and you will surely be known as a small business that provides excellent service to customers, which is the key to keeping your customers for life.