Estimated reading time: 5 mins
As a business, customers are your priority and its all about how you communicate with them that will make the difference in whether they continue to be loyal or end up looking elsewhere for a better service. Here’s how to communicate well as a business to your customers.
Always Make Your First Impressions Count
First impressions count, and when a customer approaches your business for the first time, whether it’s in person or online, there will likely be pre-conceived impressions that they have of you as a business. It’s important that you are focused on how you want to come across to those who are potentially purchasing a product or service for the first time. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising, but if you get it wrong, then it can be your worst enemy and can leave you with a reputation that will be hard to build up. Make sure that you have the necessary preparations in place so that the first ever contact with you is a positive one. Whether it’s online or in-store, every single interaction matters and can affect your reputation.
Create An Open And Easy Channel To Communicate
There’s nothing more frustrating than a customer who can’t get through to you. The harder you make it, the more they’ll think that you don’t care about any problems or issues they have as customers and that can end up with them dropping you and finding another business to give their money to. So think about creating an open and easy channel to help communicate between the customer and you. Whether this is having plenty of contact details on your website to answering direct messages that come via social media. The more willingness you show to communicate, the happier you make your customers feel in the long run. You should consider also taking advantage of communicating with technology like the omni channel communication platform. There should be nothing wrong with having an open channel of communication. If you don’t feel comfortable as a business receiving criticism or feedback, then you may want to work on that!
Be Tailored With Your Language
Depending on your customer base, the language you use can either be on the mark or completely off it. For example, if you’re selling women’s clothing for ages 18-25 then your language is likely to be more conversational and fun, rather than if you were selling insurance to corporate businesses. It’s so important that you’re able to connect with your audience because if you haven’t got the right tone of voice then a lot of your content, marketing, and advertising will all fall flat. The same goes for using scripted language. When a customer is speaking to an advisor over the phone or via email, it can feel quite disconnected if the advisor is just reading from a script. Paying too attention to scripted conversations can miss the point of what your customer is trying to get across.
Outsource Customer Service Requirements
In cases where you are a small business or don’t have the ability to hire more full-time staff to act as customer support, it might be worth outsourcing this support. A lot of customer service organizations will likely work for a number of companies, so if you request an agency, make sure you provide them with everything that’s needed to provide a successful transaction. You can also hire staff who can work remotely from home on a full-time or part-time basis if you don’t have the office space to have more staff on site.
Teach Your Staff Well
Your staff are representing the company and therefore whenever they’re dealing with clients or customers, it’s important to train them on how to interact and communicate to the standards of the company. As an example, if you own a restaurant or cafe, branded uniform might be necessary, and that should be worn clearly in order for customers to confidently approach staff. Attention should be given to customers as soon as they walk through the door and it’s worth giving them regular training on how to deal with certain situations, whether it’s giving advice or helping to diffuse a situation.
In order for your staff to communicate and perform well in front of customers, you need to keep them happy. You can do this by providing a good working environment and encouraging hard work with rewards and initiatives. If your staff are happy, then work productivity will be better and you’ll probably have less of a turnover in regards to staff.
Go Beyond Their Expectations
Going beyond the call of duty is something that’s often referred to when having customers. No customer wants to hear that there’s no solution to a problem or have someone being defensive and blaming the customer for the issue. Instead, there should always be an attitude of going beyond their expectations. Do what you can to help customers, whatever their request may be. If you can fix it then that’s great but if you can’t, at least help them in some other way and note that their feedback has been noted and that you’ll work to resolve any issues mentioned in the future. A business that is seen to be constantly trying to improve, rather than ignoring the problems is going to benefit a lot more from customer loyalty.
Communication is always important and vital between customers and clients. There’s always room for improvement for any business, and if you show your customers that you are taking feedback on board, you’ll definitely see success and growth as a business. Remember to make all of the first impressions counts and go beyond their expectations.
Always work towards creating an open line of communication and if you’re struggling, outsource extra customer service support. Tailor your language to fit your audience and try to stay clear of scripted conversations. Keep it informal where necessary but don’t forget to be professional. Transfer this training down to the staff on the front line too and make it their working environment a positive one so that they only promote positive energy to customers or clients that they interact with.
