Pay attention - They’re saying more than what you’re listening!

 

The survival of any business without proper communication is impossible. Every stage of customer journey requires impressive communication. Internal communication in the organisation is useful to establish common business goals. There should be an open room for the employees to come up with their ideas. External communication focuses on developing customer associations. Managerial authorities should foster a customer culture. It should be based on effectual communication at both the levels.

 

To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

 - Anthony Robbins 

 

The above quote indicates the great significance of communication. It is one of the primary factors to building a bridge between customers and a business organisation. One cannot afford to lose out their customers to their competitors because of silly loopholes in their customer service process. We emphasise on following points to be considered and imparted to your frontline representatives to assist them in dealing with the customers-

 

All it takes is a little Empathy!

It is necessary to deal with a complaining customer in an empathetic manner. Whenever a customer faces issues with a product, he contacts you with a hope to get a solution. A frontline representative should ensure to keep the customer in a judgement-free zone. Let him come up and express his problem. As a part of your responsibility, be an active listener and respond to him with a feeling of care. To be empathetic, train your customer service employees for skills like:

-          Active Listening

-          Effective Problem Solving

-          Deeper Understanding

-          Emotional Connection

 

Know The ‘Mirror’ Effect?

The support executives should be able to review a customer’s language and behaviour. It helps to anticipate his questions, expectations and issues. Customers from different backgrounds, communities, geographies, nature, etc. will connect with the representatives. Smart CRM and customer experience management tools are a blessing for the reps. It enables viewing the entire communication history on their screen. The executives can better understand a particular customer and give an appropriate response. Dealing with varied bunch of customers becomes easier with skills like:

-          Anticipating Needs

-          Lively Interactions

-          Command over Language

-          Thoughtfulness and Attentiveness

 

Say no to Negativity

Positivity fosters relationships. It is not easy to be polite with a plain cranky customer. What if he is only complaining without listening or understanding the solution? Well, it’s difficult to maintain your temper. But, that’s what it takes to be a good customer service executive. However hard it may be, refrain from exhibiting negative behaviour. Motivate your employees to face situation with affirmation. A negative statement or counter-argument can ruin the business with him for forever. Encourage your frontline reps develop following abilities:

-          Patience and Perseverance

-          Friendly Behaviour

-          Calm Approach

-          Determination to Tackle Issues

 

 

Balance Speed and Accuracy

Timely response matters a lot. A customer will not appreciate waiting for ages to get a solution. In this digital era, where things are reaching to the level of “LiFi", slow replies are not at all appreciated. A striking balance to respond with quick and accurate information is the key to the success. Many customer service reps are making use of CRM integrated knowledge-base to acquire complete product insights. It also helps them to search and answer the customer queries instantaneously. Inculcate the following qualities in your reps for better results-

-          Product Training

-          Clarity and Confidence

-          Sharp Analytical Skills

-          Value of Time     

 

Reinforce your Values (and your products!)

Customer retention strategies are designed to earn their loyalty. For the continued success and business relations, it makes all the sense for your representatives to communicate the benefits of your products to them. It helps them open new doors of up-selling, cross-selling and earning referrals. Also, ensure to take their feedback and suggestions. Assure them that they are important you and act on it. Active communication with customers helps to avoid future debacles. Also, it gives a chance to keep them updated about upcoming products. Necessary to have abilities like:

-          Convincing Skills

-          Develop a long-term association

-          Learn to Persuade

-          Be Promising

 

Delivering great customer service takes a lot of efforts. With the ever-rising customer expectations, it gets tougher to gift them a worthy experience. On the other side, comprehensive cloud-based customer management solutions are helping organisations to boost their CRM by empowering their agents with the right tools. It’s high time to include innovation in your business strategies. Motivate your executives to win over your customers with the power of communication and technology.

Author Bio

Swati Kungwani is the content manager for iTouchVision . She specializes in the B2B customer service experience management and has been with iTouchVision, driving new customer initiatives since years.