Customer service is the most important aspect of business. Establishments can rise and fall quickly depending on the depths of their customer service efforts. Above-average customer service efforts can keep loyal customers visiting the same business even when the product quality is imperfect, or the prices are not exactly compatible. Over-the-top customer service is a category that surpasses the usual stellar customer service. It is an effort that goes way beyond the efforts that many modern businesses make. It is going the extra five miles when other companies only go one mile. The following are five of the best ways to make your customer service over the top:
Be True Servants to the Customers
Customers still love to be served no matter what kind of establishment they visit. Many consumers come into a restaurant or a convenience store from a hard day’s work, and they expect someone to treat them better than they have been treated all day long. Self-serve establishments and processes retract from the consumer’s true service experience. Therefore, you should leave the business in its natural state of servitude as much as possible. Have the food preparers or cashiers serve the food whenever the customer decides to eat in. Check on that person to ensure that he or she is enjoying the meal. Offer to refill beverages and condiments. Collect the dishes or the trash from time to time. If you own a different kind of business, then you can apply a similar method to the type of service you provide.
Handle Disputes Honorably
Another way to provide over-the-top customer service is to tend to the consumer’s complaints immediately and effectively. Immediately means that you come out of the office as soon as you hear that there is a problem. You do so with a smile on your face and a mental database of over-the-top solutions for any problem that may come your way. The way you handle the complaint and resolve the issue will depend on the nature of the complaint. Bad food and defective products generally have easy fixes. Other problems may be extremely difficult. The key to succeeding is listening to the customer well and giving that customer what he or she desires.
Act as a Friend, and not Just Friendly
Many businesses try to be friendly to every to every customer. However, simple friendliness is a less-than-over-the-top effort. Friendly customer service reps, salespersons, waitstaff and managers may smile at a consumer or wave with a friendly face. A person who is trying to be a friend will inquire about the consumer’s life. This person will ask the consumer how his or work week went or how the children are. The individual will take a genuine interest in the person in other words. If all the people in your business treat customers in this manner, then your business will create a flock of loyal customers who will stay with you because you are like family to them.
Tip the Scales With Discounts and Incentives
Incentives and discounts are important to consumers. They will tell their friends and family members about the discounts and incentives if they are amazing enough. Some modern establishments have built empires based on favorable discounts. Examples of some of the discount models that you can use are the weekly discount day model, the one item sale model and the referral model. You need not fear giving a huge discount to your customers because you will find that huge discounts sometimes tip the scales of profit.
Show Customer Appreciation
You may want to provide a customer appreciation week or month for your consumers. Alternatively, you can do an annual customer appreciate celebration during which you provide food, games and entertainment for your guests. Customer appreciation events let your clients know that they are a special class of people, and you love them for their loyalty. Customer appreciation events are huge occurrences, but you can obtain a cash advance from a company like Advance Funds Network for the capital that you need to make your business stand out. In this day and age, you cannot afford to have an ordinary business. Every move you make must be extraordinary.
