Customer service has emerged as the most crucial department for any business. Be it big or small, the success of businesses highly relies on the kind of customer support they are delivering. A poor customer experience can cost businesses dearly. Where positive customer service can lead a company to heights of success, a few key mistakes can bring it down in no time.
There are multiple reasons why businesses fail. It may be because of poor managerial decisions, inability to cope with the challenges of the market, high taxation and interest rates, and most importantly below-par customer service. Many companies shift the focus of customer service entirely towards customer acquisition. Yes, new customers are good for business but if your existing customers aren’t well treated, then there is no point even trying for the new ones.
Companies that realize this on early stage, are bound to succeed in the market. Moreover, the employees working in the customer service departments are the true reflection of a country. The companies generate revenues as a result of their untiring efforts and companies suffer if they make any mistake.
There are common mistakes almost every department makes but one should always learn from companies that are excelling in their customer services and as a result enjoying a higher customer satisfaction rate. Just like AT&T customer service, which has been delivering effortless top-notch services to their customers making sure they are meeting customers’ expectations and coming up with quick solutions to their problems.
To make it easier for you, we came up with a comprehensive guide on the common mistakes a customer service agent should avoid at any cost.
1. Putting customers on unnecessary hold
Holds are frustrating and might annoy even the calmest people. This is one of the most common mistakes in customer service. Putting a customer on unnecessary hold can trigger any customer and you are very likely to get a bad online review. This will not only tarnish your reputation but you’ll end up with a financial loss. Customers are ambassadors and mistakes like these will take you down on a slippery slope.
Nevertheless, there is always a better way of doing things. Whenever you need to put a customer on hold, take consent politely. Explain to them whatever you are doing for them and the time it is going to be taken. Be very precise about it. If you do not finish your job within the informed time, come back online and thank the customer for waiting. Give them the update and if the work requires more time, inform them politely once again. This simple hack will help customers to keep calm.
2. Speaking in a robotic and monotonous tone with customers
The customers are humans and they would want to interact with a human. A majority of customer service departments with their robotic tones make customers uncomfortable while discussing their issues. Customers are more than the data for your spreadsheet. Act and speak like a human. Make sure you build rapport with the customer.
Try to understand their concerns and come up with a logical solution to all their woes. If not, tell them it is not possible for you to find a solution at the moment but it will be sorted out as soon as possible.
3. Limiting customers to use a specific channel
All customers are different and have their communication preferences. Therefore, the biggest mistake you could be making in your customer service department is limiting your customers to a single channel only. You need to offer as many customer service channels as you can handle reasonably. This will help you accommodate your wide customer base as well as allow them to reach out to your services comfortably.
Customers should be given absolute freedom and if you limit your communication channel it will make them lose interest in your product or services. Your competitors might get an edge over you if you don’t provide Omnichannel mobility and freedom.
4. Being reactive to your customers’ complaints
You can either be reactive or proactive, the choice is yours. Many companies take the reactive route and they have this contentment with their products or services. They are under the impression that once their product is sold, they have no responsibility for what happens afterward. This is the wrong approach.
Companies should make sure whatever product or service they are selling, the customers are satisfied with it or not. Even if there is a problem with the product, it needs to be sorted out as early as possible. The best approach is to ensure all the employees interact with clients every month so that they can understand their concerns.
5. Unnecessary Upselling
Upselling is good for any business only if you do it right. Don’t try to upsell on every occasion. It is advisable to upsell only when the customer acts like getting a great value from doing business with you. But if you see your customer contacting you in case of any inconvenience, the biggest mistake you could do is divert the topic to upsell your other products.
Try to give some space to your customers and keep the upselling trick only for times when it’s needed or when you feel like the customer is ready to buy something additional or extra.
Wrapping up:
Businesses and companies are always looking for ways to improve the quality of their customer service but they might often neglect the mistakes they are making that keep them from excelling in this department. We have identified and listed some of the common customer service mistakes, so make sure your agents at the customer service department must avoid these mistakes if you want to deliver the best to your customers.
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