Customers usually know great customer service when they experience it. It's often the most memorable part of the customer journey – one they may want to share with others. That's why understanding changing customer preferences and needs is so important.
What are companies with incredible customer service doing right? The formula and outcome may be different for every business, but there are several strategies to use to make your customers happy.
Great customer service begins with maintaining a level of maturity to listen to customer complaints and productively resolve the issue.
-David Scarola, vice president, The Alternative Board
Key Customer Service Strategies
1. Be Flexible
Depending on the scenario, you may have to go an extra mile – or further – to meet your customer's needs, especially in time-sensitive situations.
"A bride placed a last-minute order [for her wedding centerpieces] after our shipping providers had already picked up packages for the day," says Igal Sapir, founder and CTO of 100Candles.com. "Instead of waiting, our warehouse manager drove to the UPS hub at 10pm to drop off the package."
That type of above-and-beyond service can help a company stay competitive, especially in a saturated industry, Sapir notes.
2. Empower Employees to Solve Problems
If your company is strictly rule-oriented, employees can end up offering poor customer service. For example, in a restaurant with a pet-free policy, an employee may refuse service to a customer and her service dog.
But it's not just restaurants that need to be flexible and hospitable. Sean Steeves, assistant general manager for Torrey Pines Town Car, says the company avoided a smelly situation. A driver picked up a client who had come back from an Alaskan fishing trip with his prized collection of wild salmon. It was semi-frozen in a cooler, but it still smelled terrible.
The driver knew he should accept the ride. Afterward, he went to a car wash and then home to change his clothes before picking up the next client.
3. Root Your Team in Kindness
Hiring employees with the right mindset and flexible, kind attitudes is important, especially in customer-facing roles.
"With customer service, the number-one skill set is not taking issues personally," says David Scarola, vice president of The Alternative Board. "It's a rare skill to maintain composure when something goes wrong. Great customer service begins with maintaining a level of maturity to listen to customer complaints and productively resolve the issue."
4. Make Customer Service Your Priority
When Jeff Gilbert, CEO of Direct Rush, founded his logistics business, he knew it would specialize in "solving last-minute problems." While his business does regular deliveries of everyday items like lost cell phones and important documents, Direct Rush aims to say 'yes' to all requests.
"A call came in on a Saturday night. The client was going to have a pig roast, and the supplier of the pig bailed on them," Gilbert explains. "They needed somebody to travel 175 miles to New Jersey to purchase and then deliver a fully roasted pig."
Another call came from a company in Orlando that needed a five-pound machine part delivered immediately. The company said that until it received the machine part, it would lose $100,000 an hour. Gilbert sent one of his employees to deliver the part. The drive took about six hours, and it cost the client $1,800, but Gilbert probably saved his new client $500,000.
5. Give the Customer Service You Expect
Good customer service may sometimes mean noticing when someone could use a little extra service. Todd Heyboer, owner of ClosetBarcode.com, says his company keeps an eye on opportunities, like when a customer noted they needed a handbag delivered by August 18.
"We offer free ground shipping, but we automatically upgraded the shipping to priority at no additional charge," says Heyboer. "Sure, the shipping cost more, but at least the product was received on time, and it was something we did without even having the customer ask. Hopefully, the customer will come back and purchase more in the future."
Tips for Great Customer Service
- Send a personalized video to welcome each new customer.
- Use a good customer relationship management program to glean data and better serve customers.
- Proactively address shipping issues to ensure that products arrive on-time when there’s a deadline.
- Personalize your communication materials to better connect with your customers.
The Takeaway
Great customer service is tremendously valuable for growing a company. Having good customer service will help boost customer satisfaction, loyalty rates, and customer retention, plus can enhance your brand reputation online and offline. Problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence, flexibility, product/service knowledge, efficiency, and messaging skills are all important parts of customer service.
A version of this article was originally published on August 15, 2015.
Photo: Getty Images