Importance of Customer Service: Online and Offline
Walk along with entrepreneurs, speak to them and understand how they try to start their own business or to improve what they already have.
Yes, they have been successful, but at the same time, plenty of mistakes were made.
Over the years, the one single thing that kept them afloat was customer service. Talk to any of them and most of them swear that customer service is absolutely the most important part of any business.
Most entrepreneurs say that to earn more profits either one should increase sales or decrease costs. It is very hard to decrease costs, but with better customer service, it is possible to increase sales exponentially.
1. First Point of Contact
The importance of customer service to an organization will always be over-stated because it is often the only contact a customer has with a company. Obviously, customers are vital to an organization. Some of them spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars per year with a company. The secret lies with customer service. Whenever they have a question or product issues, they expect a company's customer service representatives to resolve their issues.
2. Building Bridges Through Trust
With plentiful competition available, more options are on the customer’s table. One neglected customer and he/she could choose to move to competitor. In such a competitive economy, companies must work even harder to keep customers and build their trust in their brand. By providing the best in customer service, the increase in trust is like an invested capital whose returns can be surprisingly generous. The difference between customer loyalty and customers who jump ship lies in customer service.
3. Free Publicity
A positive experience with a company's customer service can herald glad tidings, small as it may appear to be. But imagine if a celebrity faced rude customer service staff and results would be negative publicity that could negatively impact brand image. Therefore, quality customer service is a must for organizations. No organisation ought to risk poor customer service experience, due to which 20 people or more would get a negative feedback.
4. Problem Reduction
Life throws you problems and problem solving sells a lot. There’s no such thing as a perfect business with all the perfect customers. What one can ensure is that they are manageable and that they don’t become a long term issue. An empowered customers voice complaints and those issues will be handled properly by the customer service department. In this way, they will feel more comfortable doing business with you.
