Woah to Wow: Why Smart Managers Strive for Customer Delight

The long, arduous journey from a business idea to actual, paying customers requires focus and planning. The quality of the product or the service on offer matters but it is not all that matters. When one walks into a shop,the first thing they notice is how the staff treats them. Ruling out self-service stores, imagine walking into a shop and not having anyone assist you while checking out a product. It would be a strange and awkward experience to say the least!

Customer service is one of the most essential aspects of running a business. One callous remark here or one ill-timed frown there is all it takes to ruin the customer experience. Today’s empowered customers expect both technical competence as well as customer support from companies. Going past the usual metrics, smart managers now aim for ‘customer delight’ moments in their business day. Join us as we dig deeper into customer delight and understand its place in the customer service ecosystem.

GEARING UP FOR TEAMWORK

A skill, much like a saw blade, needs to be re-sharpened every so often to retain it’s ‘edge’. Employees in primarily customer-facing roles require regular bouts of customer service training to sharpen their skillset. Training away from the office allows participants to use their creativity while overcoming old problems with a fresh approach. Break from convention by offering team members fun customer service training programs that apply the concept of game-based learning.

A word of caution, however, when it comes to using training in the workplace. Without smart hiring practices beforehand, there is a chance that precious training resources are being wasted. Use whatever it takes, like employee satisfaction surveys, to gauge how dedicated the employees are towards the company’s growth. Not only that, they should also be open to working together in a team and developing relationships with their colleagues. Take the time to cultivate a customer service team that is open to mutual growth and lifelong on-the-job learning.

SCOUT’S HONOR

The basis of great customer experience is delivering excellent service without a break. From a faulty pair of glasses to a smartphone on the brink – there are countless opportunities for customer service agents to restore the customer’s confidence in the brand. All they have to do, at this point, is to resolve the customer’s issue with speed, empathy and care. Each time a customer walks away content, the brand also gains this customer’s lifelong trust. This trust can convert into genuine, word-of-mouth referrals and positive online reviews on social media pages.

How can your support team tap into customer service excellence? Challenge your team members to only promise what they can deliver to the customer and then exceed their expectations. That is one way to consistently make clients happy while also improving your internal communication.

IN IT TO WIN IT

There are many ways to thank customers for their on-going loyalty. Any token that a business can offer to its existing customers is a plus. For a leading magazine or business journal, this can be a branded stationery kit bundle delivered to the digital subscriber’s doorstep.  Everyone loves feeling like they are valued and cared for, so customer service teams must figure out how to pamper their customers. Some ideas include sending them birthday cards, offering discount vouchers and even offering extra assistance to demonstrate this.

All businesses owe every iota of their current success to their customers. Ideally, customer loyalty should be matched by customer delight. Keep looking for new ways to ‘wow’ your customers and have them coming back for more!