2009 July | Answering Service, Legal Answering Service

The Value of Customer Service

Although many of us were taught that the customer is always right, that may not be the case in some situations. There is a bit of common sense required in determining how to handle a customer relations issue. If it is a small problem, something that won’t cost you a lot of money or time, it may be wise to make the customer the winner in an argument. On the other hand, if the customer is trying to falsely accuse the business of something that it did or did not do right, then you should draw a line in the sand and inform the customer that you are firm in your decision to protect your business and your reputation.

In any situation that you encounter, you must look at it without emotion and determine how to handle it in the most cost effective manner in time and money. If it is a small issue, give the customer something for free, of maybe give them some coupons for compensation for future business.

Sometimes the best customer service solutions are found when a business owner thinks outside of the box. Be as creative as you can. Try to anticipate the other person’s needs. You may have to look at the situation through the customers eyes to find that unique solution.

To be prepared for any customer service issues you can have all of your employees meet and brainstorm ideas to discover possible problems that may arise and then possible solutions to those problems. Not only are you now more prepared to handle customer service issues, your employees are ore aware of how to see the problem from the customers point of view and make better decisions on your behalf. Any business is only as good as it’s worst employee!

In this time of business automation one of the primary complaints by customers is having to deal with are automated systems over the phone. By the time the customer has reached their intended party they are often exasperated and frustrated, which does not bode well for their overall customer service experience.

Sometimes the solution to phone automation for customer service is using a live answering service like ours to handle the initial contact by the customer. Our trained operators can take a message, calm the customer down a bit and forward an email to your customer service department and they can call the customer and solve the problem.

Grow Your Business With a Call Center

So, you want to grow your business, but you just can’t do it all. Consider hiring another company to handle your incoming and even outgoing calls. What you want, and need, is an organization that can provide outstanding customer service.

You have decided that you want to grow your business and you know you just can’t do it all. Your options are to hire more personnel, contract an independent company to do some of the work or re-purpose you existing personnel. How about a combination of the last two considerations. In re-purposing your existing personnel, consider hiring another company to handle your incoming and even outgoing calls. In addition to that, you want, and need an organization that can provide outstanding customer service.

To start the search process for that company as the right partner for your company, list the characteristics the people answering your phones should have. Obviously, good communication skills, great listening skills, someone who treats your customers with respect and a thorough understanding of your products and services.

First off, forget about voice mail, no one likes it. The only solution is a 24 hour live answering call center service. Finding the call center for your company can be challenging. In addition to your list of qualities, you’ll also want to make sure the call center you hire can:

Handle your call volume without your customers subject to long hold times, or worse, the always hated never-ending automated voice system loop with atrocious music.

Handle your calls with live operators 24/7, including weekends and holidays, if your business needs that level of service.

Handle your calls with multiple backup systems to ensure that your customers can reach someone live, even if the power is out and there’s inclement weather at their location.

A company that provides you with the ability to monitor calls at random. You will always want to quickly identify problems, make corrections and keep know what your customers are saying.

Once you’ve determined which call center is right for your business, you will need to provide them with the information they need to ensure their service meets your expectations. This will include; your expected call volume, hours of peak calls, your website, your email, the list of contact people at your company and all the pertinent information about your company.

You’ll need to provide at a minimum, reference materials to ensure the agents have an understanding of your business, product or service, and have access to the details they’ll need to handle customer calls effectively.

In conclusion, hiring a call center service can be a great advantage for growing your business IF you’ve taken your time to make sure you’ve hired a customer focused call center company with well trained and talented agents.

This article brought to you by Business Connections provides professional live 24 hour answering services to companies looking to improve their customer communications. Business Connections has been providing telemessaging and business answering services to businesses for more than 30 years and provides after hours, weekends, holiday and peak answering services.