There are two types of business in the world, there are those that rely solely on the talent of their employees, and then there are those that measure, track and report back on the work done by their talent. By far and away, the second type of business is going to have more success with your customers.

Customers don’t care if part of your business is failing; they simply want to know that they’re going to get what they’ve paid for. Businesses that rely on talent alone are unstable and unpredictable, and when there’s a problem with an aspect of the business, there aren’t the processes in place to find it, isolate it, and fix it to get the product to the customer on time.

In this post, we explore how to develop efficient business practices, and then explain how they can help you to have a positive relationship with your customers.

1. Smart Outsourcing Is Essential

Firstly, you need to take a look at the way you run your business and see whether there are any redundancies in your team(s). Technology is a great way to improve the efficiency of your company, and with software a lot more rigorous and a lot faster at doing the job of a human being, you might find that a piece of technology could be a better way to outsource a role. Remember, this doesn’t mean making somebody jobless, you can simply move that person into a more customer focused role where the role of a human is vital.

2. Tracking and Reporting

Keeping customers happy means knowing how they’re going to respond to various outcomes of customer-related scenarios. Being able to track and understand these scenarios is therefore crucial to customer satisfaction.

For example, if you operate in a retail environment and your customer service queue is over a certain length, you might start to notice your customer reviews become less positive, and your foot flow may be negatively impacted. Having the reporting knowledge to see what the critical queue density is, is therefore vital to your profit.

3. Sharp Delivery

Customers want the product they ordered to arrive on time. If product delivery is an essential part of your business, ensure it is as efficient as possible by relying on a large, global courier like TNT. As a large company, they’ll know the roads better than a smaller, independent company, and although it’s good to promote small business, keeping your customers happy is perhaps even more important.

Takeaway

What seemingly unimportant can matter more than you think; so, please bear in mind that in customer service, attention to detail and aiming for excellence is critical – too critical, at times.

Remember, ten successful purchases from a client doesn’t mean you can flunk with one purchase; a single bad experience could lose you the client – and more: Bad reputation and others might follow suit when the bad experience hit the spotlight. Think about it.

Sweat the small stuff when it comes to customer service. It matters. Seriously.

Photo credit: SamsungTomorrow