There are basic needs of customers that most good companies fulfil, but to exceed customer expectations, you need to understand what to offer and when.
If you are looking to further your skills as a customer service professional, join the Customer Service Training Course offered by pdtraining in Wellington, Dunedin and other cities in New Zealand.
Customers can make or break a business. Every business that is running successfully recognises the importance of customers. By understanding the power of customers, highly successful businesses ensure that they provide exceptional service to their customers. Let us examine the ways through which companies can exceed the expectations of their customers.
1. Providing Service Before Being Asked
To offer help to customers even before they have asked for it does not require prescience; it requires the understanding of human and customer behaviour. If customers receive help before they make the expected effort, then the service can be called extraordinary. For instance, when a customer enters, he or she usually does not know from whom to get help. Instead of allowing the customer to find the person who can help them, a customer service professional must approach the customer to offer help.
When unsure of what the customer may want, it is best to ask. Offering help to customers shows them that you value them and are willing to go out of your way to please them.
Small, but important, gestures make a huge difference in how customers perceive a company. The quality of the service impacts the reputation of a company because that is the point at which customers interact with the company on a personal level.
2. The Three Most Important Factors in Customer Service
The three major factors that impact customer service are:
- Fulfilling of need
- How the service is provided
- Its timeliness
What do customers expect and what will surprise them? What should you target to provide more than every other company? Customers expect value and good behaviour. These are basic customer expectations. The product or service that you offer must provide them with equal or greater value than the money they spend on it. Along with that, they expect to be attended to and helped, in case they run into a problem with the product or the service.
What customers do not expect is getting much greater value than what they usually receive. It can be in terms of the pricing of the product or the service, the after-sales service, discounts and exchange offers, or the pampering they receive at a company store or office. Anything that the customer believes that they did not bargain for when making the exchange comes as a surprise. It is not limited to the quality of the product or it’s pricing, but includes how and when the service is provided.
3. Pamper Them Irrespective of How Much They Buy, What They Buy and Even If They Don’t Buy
Every person that walks into your store to explore or buy must be provided the same special treatment. Even if the customer buys one small item, they must be cared for in the same manner as a loyal customer. Pampering every customer is essential for creating a good brand image. Even if a customer does not buy, or buys later, they will recommend you to friend and family if they receive excellent customer service. That, too, is a return that is of great value.
Pdtraining delivers 1000’s of professional development courses each year in Wellington, Auckland, Napier, Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin and Tauranga, so you can be assured your training will be delivered by a qualified and experienced trainer.
All public Customer Service Training courses include am/pm tea, lunch, printed courseware and a certificate of completion. Customised courses are available upon request so please contact pdtraining on 1300 121 400 to learn more.