Are We Connected?

How well do you know your customers?

How connected are you   with them?

These questions may be simple, but as an owner of a business,  you need to ask those questions. So that you can deepen your relationships with them, assess your goals and find ways to achieve them. In the long haul, it is building a relationship that helps your business grow and stay in the market so that more people will enjoy what you offer.

It’s not only about making profits; it is all about affinity. Are they only mere users or long-time patrons?

Once you have analyzed everything. , you can now come up with a strategy to win more clients.

Relationship is important, whether it is personal or with the use of technology.

Personal relationship is much appreciated by the customers. Why not give ample time to meet with customers if there is an opportunity? Just a simple and short talk can do.  Maybe a simple follow up on, how well they are now, how they are doing, and what do they think about your service or your product in general?.

It is also quite possible to establish good relationships online now that people are using smartphones and tablets to stay connected with everyone, including the companies they like.

Plus, it is extremely helpful to communicate with technology. . It’s fast and easy.

Whether it is offline or online, what is important that your pulse is on the customer. Gather feedbacks, suggestions or complaints. By doing this regularly, you can drastically improve your business and make it a better one.

Use different mediums to communicate such as phone calls, online surveys, or social interactions.

Only then you can say that the connection is real if you are aware of what they think of your business, and you are doing something to respond on what their needs and concerns.

Stay connected with the customers and they will connect with you.

Just like service, your relationship with the customer is also important.

Use it as a way to maintain customers.

Anticipating Needs

“Prevention is better than cure”, one of the most famous phrases we would hear every now and then.

In the business world, it is better to think likely of the needs of the customers to enable us to address their future needs rather than merely solving the problem.

To help you to foresee needs, it is necessary to know them better beforehand. That’s where the CRM comes in handy.

Knowing what pains and concerns customers on a daily basis is about providing the best solutions for problems that might occur anytime soon.

By simply understanding what has happened and how your business has solved will amaze customers. Don’t hesitate to look beyond their concern, especially when these concerns are usually irate calls.

The frustration and anger will be taken away, if you will discover their future needs. That way they will feel that you value them.

It also makes you proactive because prevention is already there long before the problem happens. 

As you do your part in making customers happy and satisfied, you already walk an extra mile in delivering the best customer experience. You don’t just make things happen; you make your future a lot brighter than ever.

How To Position Your Features And Benefits

Customers can get confused sometimes. There are times when they cannot decide which one suits them. 

Here’s one example.

A male client calls in, asking the call center to cancel his credit card without any reason. You already know what he wants, but, it is important that you think first before honoring his request. Ask more questions to know his real concern. If he insisted on cancelling his card, ask something like this: “First of all, let me ask you this question: what was your reason before on availing this credit card?”

Then continue asking more. use the funneled questioning strategy to quickly identify the hidden concern.

As you start identifying the hidden concern of the customer, you can now position the features and benefits of your product or service. Remind him about how he can take advantage of them. Even from the features, you can tell him that yes, he can enjoy perks. He just needs to use them.

Reiterating the features is important and therefore useful, but it is much more helpful if you know how to put the benefits aside from their usual features.

A feature is a physical characteristic of your product or service. It is the only thing that customers can see.

A benefit on the other hand is about the thing that customer can gain from your product or service.

The feature of the membership card is exclusive access to all the privileges of a cardholder It offers low annual fees and finance charges

But the benefit of having a credit card is about the advantage of having it; for example you will not carry huge money for payment- the convenience of carrying money in just one piece. In case of emergency you can use it. And for availing it you can also earn points for rewards, which can be used for buying or free item.

Now, do you see yourself using the features and benefits of your product or service to gain more customers?

Complying to the WIN’s of the Customer

Call centers are in demand today.

We all know that a call center is a third-party organization that handles a large number of calls for two purposes: for taking orders and providing customer service.

But, how will you win the customer if you do not know what to respond on their WIN’s? WIN’s stands for wants, interests and needs of the customer.

In my previous article, I gave some tips on questioning.

Using proper questioning helps you identify the win’s of the customer.

If you’ve already acquired the necessary skills for questioning, you are now prepared in identifying the wants, interests and needs of the customer.

After you identify the win’s, it’s now time to comply with each of them.

Before complying with any request of a customer, remember this; it is not because of a want, interest or need of one customer that you will do it. You should also consider if it is possible and if it really beneficial to the customer.

Think first before obeying. Think in a way that is really best for your customer.

This will allow you to think the right thing to do, rather than what is the demand. Not because you quickly heed to their request or give what they want. But because you know to respond to what they really need. .

How you comply also varies on their preferences.

Each customer has unique tastes and preferences, what he likes may not be likeable to others.

As soon as you identify the wants, interests or needs of the customer, your next step is to identify what is the best thing to comply with their concerns and how will you comply with it.

Quick response means you’re starting to build a good relationship with your customer.

The Qualities of A Good Customer Service Representative

 Do you have your own story of customer service to tell? How did your experience go? Was it a good or bad experience? In every call, you will always encounter skilled professionals called customer service representatives. Think about it: Their job is to manage calls and handle customer calls and concerns every day.

Now, what does it take to become a customer service representative?

Is the job easy?

There are no hard and fast rules but the best way to become one is to learn and acquire the skills.

Here are the qualities of a good customer service representative:

PROBLEM-SOLVER.  Problem-solving skills have been one of the most important qualities of a customer service representative. This means that customer service reps should be able to analyze the situation quickly and think critically.

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY.  Communication skills help agents create interesting conversations with customers. It allows you to engage the other person on the other side of the line. It helps you understand each other.

Customer service professionals should be able to speak clearly, give clear and message and hear the information correctly.

ACTIVE LISTENER.  While listening clearly is a must, having this skill allows you to understand, manage and gather the necessary information especially when your caller is angry. From this, you can apologize if needed, you can control the call, verify information and acknowledge the need of your customer. 


ASSERTIVE. Agents should walk the extra mile.  When we talk about going the extra mile, it is about doing the right thing beyond what is necessary. This means that you're looking forward to what will the customer may need in the future so that he/she might not encounter the same problem.

 
HELPFUL. Customers find it easy when agents are helpful to them. They feel important and happy.  Multitasking is a big help. For example, when a customer asked something but unfortunately you don't know the answer, while you are in the call you can look at the knowledge base to look for the answer. 


EMPATHY.  It is the ability to sense the emotion of the person.  Having empathy to the customer simply means that you really care for what he/she is feeling. Its putting yourself in someone else’s shoe.

Having a great sense of humor is a plus; it changes the mood. Skilled agents do this so that they can manage the conversation efficiently and handle everything smoothly. You change the situation of the customer in a positive way.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.  Be honest and transparent with respect to your customer. Don’t give wrong information just to make the customer at ease.  Give the right information, if it is negative, still be sound as positive and be polite to them.

If you are a business owner, do your front-liners have these qualities?