How important is your customer service to the success of your business?

The answer? It’s vital.

‘Customer service is so important to overall business success. We deal with a lot of businesses and we know just how important it is to build good relationships with our customers. We have people approaching us all the time based on recommendations from existing customers simply because we know that making sure our customers are satisfied is key,’ says Adam Brett, 08Direct’s Senior Account Manager.

It has been shown and proved over and over that a company’s growth and success is directly connected to the quality of their customer service and support. Basically, if your customer service is bad, your business will suffer dramatically. It might seem so simple, but there’s many easy mistakes to make that can put a customer off so we have put together a list to help you make the right decisions for your customer service to make you get it right, every time.

Respond quickly – When a customer emails you, make sure you respond within a business day and make sure you ALWAYS respond in a succinct and professional manner. If you leave them waiting any longer, they’re likely to go elsewhere for their business.

Satisfied customers – When a customer contacts you, make sure you fully deal with their problem or query and make sure that they’re satisfied with what you have done. Happy customers mean they’ll keep coming back to you and are more likely to pass your company name on to friends and family.

Experience is more important than price – If your customers are dealt with professionally and efficiently and they have a good experience from contacting you, it’s likely that they’d be willing pay more for a service than they would if they received bad service elsewhere cheaper.

Accessibility – The easier it is for the customer to speak to the person or department they want to, the more likely they’ll be to want to keep contacting you in future. Make sure the right telephone numbers are easily found on your website.

Be nice! – It may sound simple, but if you treat your customers nicely, they will respond nicely, making for a pleasant and loyal relationship between the two.

Know what you’re talking about – Make sure that all of your staff are trained and up-to-date with your company’s business and products. If a customer rings with a problem, whoever answers the phone needs be able to help them.

Feedback – If you ever receive feedback from your customers, especially if you receive a complaint, you should make a note of them and use them to improve!

Be online – If your company not only has an excellent call system but it is online through social networking sites, you open up your customers possibilities in how they can contact you, making them more likely to.

The customer is always right – An unsatisfied customer is more likely to tell their friends and family about a bad customer service experience than a satisfied customer is to spread word about a good experience, meaning the amount of customers you stand to lose is higher than the ones you could gain.

Better service saves money – The happier your employees are means the happier your customers will be. Your employees are the front line of your business so the happier and better trained they are means you are more likely to retain your existing customers and attract new ones.