Canadian Small Business Women

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Points for Small Business Customer Service

 

Customer Service For Small Business

Learning to deliver great customer service for your small business can help keep your customers happy and boost your business. Providing the best service can be a challenge, whether you’re a new business or established.

Need some pointers improving your small business customer service? I will walk you through some great pointers.

Customer Service Is Great Business.

The great news is that excellent customer service doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Most of the important steps a business can take are free. Once you select the tools — social media, chat, CRM systems there’s no stopping.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can provide you with the reports you need to monitor your customer service and organize other aspects of your business, including operations and marketing.

You can also manage your customer relations by creating customized reports and send custom emails. CRM lets you analyze patterns and trends in your business. Although CRM systems are a great way to start it is a paid service which is available in various prices.  The prices range from $35 – $125 a month.

Help Desk

A help desk application can make it quick for you to serve customers and can be used for online businesses. You’ll be able to create a ticket for each issue and route customers through the proper procedures to get their issues resolved.

Social Media

This is very important.Make sure your business has at least one social media platform. It’s an essential customer service channel that needs to be monitored and used to interact with customers and fix their problems.

Chat

A lot of customers prefer to reach out to the company in different ways. While some might like email or phone, chat is essential for any small business. In today’s world, customers expect instant gratification and as an owner it is great to provide at least two of these options.

 

Identify Your Customer Service Issues

As an owner you can quickly become exhausted by trying to do everything. It is important to get an overview of the issues the business is facing.

A great way to keep up is with CRM reports, by reviewing the customer service reports on a daily or monthly basis.

Complaints Report

If you decide to use CRM this can get included in this report. You can review this report to find out which customer complained, what it was about and what is being done about the complaints

Product Report

Issues which aren’t complaints but are issues that need to be resolved with the product or service. A weekly service report should show every open service ticket, what was last done to resolve it, and what is the next scheduled action.

Close Report

This report shows how long it takes to resolve customer problems. You can set a goal and check to see if you’re business is meeting that goal. An alert can be sent by email, text messages or popups. This can minimize any issues by allowing you to jump in and make sure the problem gets fixed immediately.

What Is Your Plan?

Now that you have some ideas about what is needed, you should start looking at your business. The services or products you provide, and all the ways you can fulfill your customers or clients.

You can sift through customer surveys, complaints and take notes for improvements. Always ask yourself how you can do more for your business more often. Remember that a high-quality customer service can help make your business more successful, its always easy to make risky choices which can dent your business.

Implementing some of the below points can help your to be stronger as a company.

  • Know what excellent customer service is.
  • Train employees to solve problems.
  • Have a social media profile
  • Apply management tools, and reporting that make it easier to communicate with and please your customers.

I hope you can implement a few of these pointers so your business can reach a higher level of growth and success.

 

 

 About Jan “La-la” Dale

My name is Jan “La-La” Dale, I am a photographer, web and graphic designer. I own a photography and videography company called (Rue Studios). With my experience in the corporate world for 10+ years, I was training employees and employers in customer service and client relations.

After opening Rue Studios, I realised that as entrepreneurs and business owners we forget the importance of customer service and client relations. I hope you all take something from my experiences and implement it in your growing business.

Social media links @itslaladale
Email: jan.dale369@gmail.com

Do you implement customer service?

As business owners are you providing great customer service to your clients or future clients? If you are sitting their pondering, well its understandable. As business owners we sometimes customer service is overshadowed by our extremely busy schedules.

As business owners are you providing great customer service to your clients or future clients? If you are sitting their pondering, well its understandable. Sometimes customer service is overshadowed by our extremely busy schedules.

Let’s not forget that we need our customers, no customers no business so we should treat them the best. Your customer/clients are working with you because they love your product or services.

When you have customer loyalty, you will have ongoing relationships with customers that generates. The quicker you can deliver value, the more likely you are to build trust and loyalty with customers.

 

Customer Service Represents Your Brand!

You may know what your brand represents, but when it comes to customers, they cannot read minds. An assumption will be made based on what you provide or show on social media, advertisements and other marketing strategies. Customer service is your connection to your clients/customers. As an owner this lays your responsibility of representing your brand, with customer service theirs direct communication.

 

Great Customer Service Equals Happy Customers.

Let’s be real for a second. We are all customers before anything, we all want to have amazing service. As a customer I am influenced by every single experience with a brand/business. Once it is a positive experience I will be raving and spreading the word.

Whereas a horrid experience not a peep, I would go to your business competitor. When customers experience wonderful service, they’re more likely to spread the good word of your business. Customers will be your best and cheapest form of advertising.

There are hundreds of comparisons, the importance is what your business/brand brings to the table. So, by providing a stellar customer service experience your brand/business can most definitely be differentiated by customers. Remember that loyalty is rooted in trust, this ensures a life-long relationship with your business.

 

What Is Your CLV (Customer Lifetime Value)?

This one is very important for business owners. CLV is the total revenue expected from one customer. Once this grows it signifies that customers are purchasing from your business frequently. Therefore, it is imperative to invest in your customers experience.

Once you have this practice down, new customers are more trustworthy of your business which results in up-selling or cross-selling of additional products. It is all about trust in this game, customers will surely recommend your products that truly reflects their needs. Which will create a smoother purchasing experience.

 

Having Great Customer Service Is An Advantage When Owning A Business.

It’s only natural that we want to stand out, it doesn’t matter the industry we are in we want to be the best. After all nobody strives to be “just ok” at something. You want to be better and better than every other company, even your competitors. And of course, you want your customers to know, that’s the key to keeping customers loyal and ensuring they interact with your brand/business.

Customer service is an excellent way for your company to be distinguished as mention prior. In fact, customers are willing to stop doing business with one poor customer service experience. If the customer issues are resolved during the first mishappens, there is a chance they will return.

By providing excellent customer service, you will retain your customers. It’s indisputable that, positive customer service can make your company the best version of itself. The ability to communicate directly with customers can totally revolutionize your company and grow your brand.

 

                 About Jan “La-la” Dale

My name is Jan “La-La” Dale, I am a photographer, web and graphic designer. I own a photography and videography company called (Rue Studios). With my experience in the corporate world for 10+ years, I was training employees and employers in customer service and client relations.

After opening Rue Studios, I realised that as entrepreneurs and business owners we forget the importance of customer service and client relations. I hope you all take something from my experiences and implement it in your growing business.

Social media links @itslaladale
Email: jan.dale369@gmail.com

How good is your Customer Service?

Martina New

 

We all know “The customer is King”. What are YOU doing to make your customers feel like Kings and Queens, and wanting to come back to you again and again? After all, customers are our businesses’ life-blood.

During a recent workshop by Jayne Huhtanen, of FocalPoint Coaching of Toronto, attendees learned how to propel their customer service to a whole new level. But first things first:

 

Why is good customer service so important?

An unhappy customer is a company’s worst enemy! They can undermine and damage your reputation, whether justified or not. With today’s Internet based news feeds and social media it doesn’t take much to dish the dirt on any business via Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. We know we can’t please everybody all the time, yet it is important to keep our customers happy (or at least satisfied enough not to campaign against our business).

Jayne sees customer service as four key areas: Service, Satisfaction, Staying, and Success.  Firstly, you want to provide not just good but amazing customer service, with which you hope to reach or exceed customer satisfaction.  In turn, that will lead to customers staying with you as a repeat client and contributing to your success. For most companies, 80% of business comes from 20% of clientele, so repeat clients are essential.

Providing excellent customer service and satisfaction requires knowing each customer`s wants and needs, and what their expectations are in terms of your product or service. One way to find out is by simply asking directly, getting brief feedback forms, or conducting customer satisfaction surveys.

One such method is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which uses just one basic question: How likely is it that you [the customer] would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?  The resulting scores fall into one of three categories:

  • Promoters (rating you 9-10  in customer service, with 10 being exceptional): loyal enthusiasts, who will keep buying, and referring others;
  • Passives (rating you 7-8): satisfied but unenthusiastic customers, vulnerable to competitors; and,
  • Detractors (rating you 0-6): unhappy customers, who can damage your brand and hinder growth.

To turn your customers into promoters, there are five levels of customer service:

  1. Meet expectations: The bare minimum of service, not getting major complaints but also no loyalty; failure to meet expectations even once is seen as reason to leave; customers gladly switch to a competitor who wows them with a lower price and/or better service.
  2. Exceed expectations: Building customer loyalty; may lead to increased profitability; customers willing to pay more for this better service; helps avoid the Law of Diminishing Intentions, i.e. customers going elsewhere.
  3. Delight customers: Touching customers on an emotional/personal level; this increases client retention; showing them you truly care; makes it hard for competitors to pull them away.
  4. Amaze customers: Propels your business to a whole new level; you treat your customers better than gold; your amazed customers are keen to actively refer you.
  5. Not meeting expectations:  Not meeting customer expectations unintentionally or maybe intentionally because you’re trying to get rid of a ‘bad customer’ who is never satisfied regardless of the level of service; this customer and you are just not a good fit.

Here are just a few of the things you can do for good to excellent customer service: Always follow-up, offer help and solutions immediately, provide incentives or compensation, have personal interaction (by telephone or in person), be accountable, send hand-written thank you cards to repeat or major clients or small appreciation gift, hold client appreciation event, and offer finder’s fee for referrals.

We each have our own style, of course, and what makes working with us special. Importantly, always be friendly, sincere, and over-deliver, then as long as your product or service is top-notch, you should have no problem delighting and retaining your customers!

Sources:

Martina Rowley is the founder and operator of Beach Business Hub – THE co-working space east of the Don Valley. She combined her passion and experience in the environmental sector with her community engagement side to create a local work environment where space and resources are shared. She fosters and facilitates collaboration, networking, and learning for and with small business owners and new start-ups. Contact her at:http://www.beachbusinesshub.ca, on Facebook and on Twitter

Take Control of Your Online Reputation Management

TCORM

Many small businesses that don’t take online marketing seriously are unaware that their reputation online may not match their local reputation.

It is possible that a disgruntled customer, former employee, or even a competitor is putting up bad reviews about you.

When 97% of consumers use online search when researching products or services it pays to know what people are saying about you online.

It is just plain crazy to think just because your business does so well locally that no reputation management needs to be done online.

It is erroneous to think that your customers are so loyal that they will disregard bad reviews. Small business owners need to pay even more attention to Online Reputation Management (ORM) – If you don’t take control of your online reputation, someone else will!

Start Your Online Reputation Management Today!

1. Assess your online reputation

Start assessing your online reputation by performing searches on the major search engines: Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  Don’t just search for your business name but also search for your products, your highest-profile employees, your own name, and any usernames or handles you use on any other site.

2. Customer Service

Always address customers’ comments, and complaints. Be proactive about customer feedback and even more so about customer service. When customers reach out on social media it is usually because emails and phone calls have been ignored. When phone calls and emails go unanswered, customers feel as though they have no other option but to make themselves be heard.

Have a customer service policy in place to respond to phone calls and email in a timely manner.

Monitor social media sites for conversations about you and your business and be prepared to join the conversation.

3. Address the issue

If a complaint or bad review is legit, take the time to acknowledge and offer solutions. A mistake some companies make is to fight back but that only escalates the issue and makes you look worse. Remember to offer positive feedback.

Bonus

4. Reputation Repair

Sometimes it may be impossible to remove a false review or complaint. You can fight bad reviews by soliciting and posting good reviews. Get your satisfied customers online to spread the word about your great products and services.

It’s time to take your online marketing seriously and take control of your online reputation by monitoring, responding and getting positive feedback.

Dwainia Grey is an online marketer at Awesome Biz Online. She creates
awesome websites and blogs for businesses as well as working with
companies to optimize their websites with Search Engine Optimization and
Social Media. She can be reached at Awesome Biz Online or by phone at 647-799-1090 x 104. You a can also follow her on Facebook to get the latest on online marketing.