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What is your favourite shop or brand? Why do you like it? What makes it different from other brands or shops? Probably the fact that you were satisfied with their products and received good customer service. Now you might have gotten an idea as to how important good customer service is for a business. But how do businesses ensure good customer service? Read ahead to find out.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenWhat is your favourite shop or brand? Why do you like it? What makes it different from other brands or shops? Probably the fact that you were satisfied with their products and received good customer service. Now you might have gotten an idea as to how important good customer service is for a business. But how do businesses ensure good customer service? Read ahead to find out.
Good customer service successfully meets customer needs and leave them satisfied. Four main methods enhance customer service (see Figure 1 below). The methods are as follows:
Pre-sales customer service method
Product knowledge method
Sales process method
Post-sales service method
All these methods play an important role in giving customers good service. The goal of providing good customer service is to leave the customer satisfied.
Pre-sales customer service involves helping potential customers with their queries even before they have purchased the item. Answering these questions plays an important role in framing their purchase decisions. If a brand can answer customer questions and offer what they are looking for, they will be more likely to buy from this brand.
The questions are often about something they are unsure about regarding the product, such as quality, safety, or other dimensions. If customer service representatives can easily find a solution to queries and problems without much hassle, it helps to create a positive opinion about the brand, whereby the brand acquires a new sale or even a new customer.
When you are well versed in a topic, you can communicate better about it. Good customer service should be fast, efficient, and beneficial.
Product knowledge is the ability of a salesperson to completely understand all dimensions and functions of the product to better communicate about the product to the customers.
If salespeople are well informed about a product, they can answer customer queries easily, making the service process much quicker. They do not have to refer to handbooks or manuals or contact their superiors to answer questions.
Doing this would be time-consuming, and irritating for the customers. Customers want to know exactly what they are buying, and how it will benefit them. Product knowledge helps the salesperson to better present the product benefits and to exhibit the product more accurately.
When you are in the process of selling a product to a customer, it is important to make sure that the customer has a good experience from the very beginning. Communication with the customer is important. When you communicate effectively with your customer, it makes it easier for you to understand what their expectations are. This makes it easier for you to find the right product or service for them.
The most important factors that help to satisfy a customer during the sales process are:
High-quality products
Reliable products
Safe products
It is no surprise that the quality of a product can impact customer satisfaction.
Quality measures the standard of the product when compared to similar products.
The role of customer service is to provide products with the quality that is expected by their customers. The customer service team understands the needs and expectations of the people, and the brand works on improving the quality if needed.
Goods or services should be reliable.
Reliability of a product or service refers to it performing the task that is expected from it.
It is the responsibility of the customer service team to ensure that their products are reliable and function as they are supposed to.
For instance, a running shoe is expected to provide support and comfort to the feet while running. If it fails to do so, the product will be deemed unreliable by the customers.
The safety of a product or service is a great concern for every customer.
Product safety refers to the product’s ability to be safe when used as it was intended.
The customer service team assures the customer that the product is safe for usage and makes sure that customers feel safe using the product.
Post-sales customer service or after-sales service is as important as the customer service offered at the previous stages of the purchase.
Post-sales customer service deals with all the problems the customer faces after the purchase of the product.
Figure 2 below shoes the types of post-sales services; they involve:
On-time delivery of products,
Installation,
Repair of goods,
Quick return or exchange process,
Answering questions and complaints,
Technical support, and so on.
After-sales service plays an important role in building customer loyalty. Post-sales customer service also tries to maintain their customer relationship via the following touchpoints:
E-mails
Memberships
Magazines
Newspapers, etc.
Customer experience or customer engagement refers to how the customer is left feeling about the business and its service at the end of the entire process. The goal of every business should be to create positive customer engagement, which implies that the customer has a positive opinion about their experience.
Positive customer engagement is when a customer has a positive experience in their interactions with the business.
When there is positive engagement with customers, they create a good reputation about the business in their minds, resulting in a satisfied customer. Steps must be consciously taken in every step of the customer service process, starting from pre-sales up to post-sales service, to make sure that the customer has a good experience.
Now you know how businesses work to provide good customer service. Some businesses - despite having good products - might not be as successful as others if they fail to offer good customer service. It is important to provide a service that is at par with customer expectation at every stage of the process. Only then will the customer have a positive experience with the business. The next time you shop for a product, observe how businesses treat you as a customer at various stages of your purchase. It will give you a better insight as to why some brands or businesses are more successful than others.
The post-sales customer service makes sure that all the problems the customer is facing after the purchase of the product are dealt with.
After-sales service plays an important role in building customer loyalty.
Customer experience is how the customer is left feeling about the brand and its service at the end of the entire process.
Positive engagement results in a satisfied customer.
Pre-sales customer service involves helping potential customers with their queries even before they have purchased the item. Answering these questions plays an important role in framing their purchase decisions.
Post-sales customer service deals with all the problems the customer is facing after the purchase of the product.
This involves:
On-time delivery of products
Installation
Repair of goods
Quick return or exchange process
Answering questions and complaints
Technical support, and so on
After-sales service plays an important role in building customer loyalty.
Product knowledge is the ability of a salesperson to completely understand all dimensions and functions of the product to better communicate about the product to the customers. If salespeople are well informed about a product, they can answer customer queries easily, making the service process much quicker. Product knowledge helps the salesperson to better present the product benefits and to exhibit the product more accurately.
Customer experience or customer engagement refers to how the customer is left feeling about the business and its service at the end of the entire process. Positive or good customer engagement is when a customer has a positive experience in their interactions with the business.
A business must follow all the customer service methods to ensure good customer service. Businesses can offer good customer service by consciously taking steps to satisfy the customer even before the purchase is made. This is the pre-sales customer service. The business must be able to quickly answer customer queries about the product.
Secondly, in the sales process, the business must be able to offer products that meet customer expectations.
Product knowledge is also very important for providing good customer service. This helps in presenting the products and their benefits more accurately and answering customers’ concerns quickly.
Lastly, at the post-sales service stage, the business must make sure that all the problems the customer is facing after the purchase of the product are dealt with. This way, the customer experiences no trouble along the process of purchase and is left feeling satisfied and positive about the brand.
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SIGNUP SIGNUPFlashcards in Methods of Good Customer Service30
Start learningName the 4 methods to enhance customer service.
Pre-sales customer service method
Product knowledge method
The sales process method
Post-sales service method
What is the goal of customer service?
The goal of customer service is to leave the customer satisfied.
How does pre-sales service help a business?
It helps in framing a potential customer's purchase decision, and the brand would have acquired a new sale or even a new customer.
Hows do pre-sales service help a customer?
It helps a customer in finding answers to their queries about product dimensions, which will ultimately help them in their purchase decision.
Why is product knowledge important in customer service?
Product knowledge helps salepeople to answer customer queries easily and makes the service process much smoother. It also helps them to present the product, and its benefits more accurately.
How can the absence of product knowledge affect customer service?
When posed with a product query, an uninformed salesperson will have to consult others or refer to other mediums to answer. This is time-consuming and could be irritable for the customer. It also prevents the accurate presentation of the product.
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