One of the central points of any successful business management is, without a doubt, being able to implement an optimal strategy for dealing with customers. The impact of knowing how to treat customers on the credibility of a brand and business results is undoubted, as we will see in this article. Come on!
Benefits of a good customer dealing strategy
If your company manages to improve customer service in a sustained way over time, the positive impact will be visible both in the short and long term.
In this sense, some of the main benefits of knowing how to properly treat a customer are:
- Increase in overall user and customer satisfaction.
- Greater loyalty to the brand/product.
- Creation of prescribing customers (who recommend your products or services).
- Increased confidence among agents, who see their work reinforced with positive responses from customers.
- Increased sales and greater profitability of the company. In this sense, the ROI of a good customer experience is indisputable.
Therefore, the benefits (both direct and indirect) of good customer service are more than notable, given that every effort in this regard is usually highly rewarded.
Strengths of dealing with customers
Below we point out some of the most important elements to achieve customers who are more satisfied with the treatment they receive from the company:
1. Know your customers in depth
To really know how to treat a customer in the most appropriate way, it is essential to have a deep understanding of their motivations, interests and preferences. Only in this way will it be possible to incorporate all the other strategies aimed at increasing their satisfaction.
Some ways to know your customers are:
- Satisfaction surveys
- Chatbots
- Analysis of preferred communication channels
- Shopping history
- History of queries and complaints
2. Provide personalized attention
Not all customers want the same thing or want to receive it in the same way. If you know in depth the preferences and characteristics of the different customer profiles, you will be able to offer them more appropriate service.
In this way, there will be customers who appreciate a friendlier and closer approach while others prefer a more formal treatment, there will be more or less communicative, determined or indecisive, etc.
Creating customer profiles or user personas allows you to individualize your target audience and design a more effective sales strategy.
The soft skills of your agents are also essential here, as they must practice active listening that allows them to identify the user’s profile in the first seconds of the call. With this information, the tone and style of communication can be adapted to each particular case.
3. Offer a consistent customer experience
The personalization of customer service must be compatible with maintaining a certain consistency in the company’s voice. That’s what we know as omnichannel experience.
Each sector has its particular demands and, within the sector, each company must try to individualize its style when deciding how to treat a customer.
Once this particular style has been identified, the company should maintain it throughout the entire customer journey and through all channels. Otherwise, a feeling of lack of seriousness and reliability would be transmitted.
In short, it is about offering the customer a global experience of the company, placing them at the center of any strategy. Only in this way can a harmonious, integrated and uninterrupted relationship between the different channels be achieved.
4. Know your products or services in detail
Although it is often taken for granted, it is worth remembering: good customer service is only possible if agents know perfectly what they are selling.
If not, sooner or later the customer experience will suffer. Therefore, the company’s staff must have exhaustive knowledge of the product and be able to answer any questions from the potential buyer.
Here the responsibility falls on the Managers or team leaders to offer continuous and quality training, to ensure that the agents have all the necessary work tools at their disposal.
5. Promote feedback
It is essential to know the customer’s opinion about the treatment she/he has received. In this sense, try to implement reliable information collection systems (surveys, questionnaires, direct observation, etc.).
In any case, the decisive factor is to purify and systematize all that information so that it can be useful for decision making. There’s no point in accumulating data if it is not going to have any impact on the customer strategy.
6. Be proactive when facing problems
In the event of any inconvenience, it must be the company that takes the initiative before being requested by customers. It is about proposing alternatives, offering creative solutions and, ultimately, ensuring that the company’s image can even be reinforced.
One of the worst scenarios is having to negotiate or talk with an angry customer. The chances of reaching a healthy agreement for both parties are decreasing minute by minute.
7. Observation and analysis capacity
At this point it is fundamental being receptive, trying to capture all the nuances of communication with customers (both verbal and non-verbal). Based on this information, the next step is to analyze and interpret it correctly.
In this sense, it is usually very useful to fragment the information into different parts to identify issues that should be treated separately. For example, logistics problems may converge with technical issues of product operation, which must be redirected to different departments and resolved separately.
To clarify any doubts we may have, it is very important to always ask the customer questions. You should not leave issues unattended or allow for possible misunderstandings.
How to deal with a difficult customer
As we said at the beginning, each customer is different and should receive personalized treatment. In this way, perhaps one of the most special cases is how to deal with difficult clients.
Now, not all difficult clients are the same either. Thus, we can encounter customers who are too indecisive, poorly informed, arrogant, with a bad character, impatient, etc.
Therefore, each case is different and should be treated as such. In this sense, the previous advice is still valid: try to get to know each type of difficult customer in depth. Ask questions, analyze the answers and propose solutions appropriate to that particular customer.
