Communicating with customers is something we all do. Whether it’s emails, instant messaging, calls, or advertising, what we say to our customers will draw them in, leave them feeling neutral, or alienate them.  Hoping to take the high road to communications excellence? It can be a tricky balance. For example, those newsletters you send out could be a case of too much unsolicited information too often. But woe betide the business that fails to communicate when customers want info or that makes promises but fails to deliver. And, if you’re offering customer service and support (as you shoul ..read more

No matter how good your business is and how hard you try to keep them all happy, there will be times when your customers get angry. Whether or not their anger is justified, they represent an opportunity rather than a threat. But to realise the opportunity for improvement that they represent, you first need to know how to deal with angry customers.  While your first reaction might be a desire to bury your head in the sand, it’s the last thing you should do. Your job is to transform unhappy customers into happy customers if it’s at all possible.  Dealing With Angry Customers: Why Getti ..read more

Most businesses would like to say they are customer-centric. But what is customer centricity and what does it really mean? Customer centricity means placing your customers at the core of your business. While this might sound sensible, few businesses really do it. In practice, they often see their special expertise as being “core” with customers at the periphery and customer service as a “support function” rather than a core process.  There are logical reasons why this happens. For example, if customers love your business because of its products, you may have difficulty keeping abreast of ..read more

Listening is a skill – and not everyone has refined their active listening skills. Instead, they think about what they will say next or find their minds drifting off to a different topic. That isn’t always a train smash, but active listening in customer service is a must. In active listening, you don’t just listen to the words, but you search for meaning.  As a skill, it’s possible to learn active listening and keep practising it until you have it down to a fine art. In this article, we’ll look at active listening techniques you can put into practice right away, but first, let’s look at t ..read more

We all know what customer service means and then up pops “customer experience” as a newer term that might seem to mean the same thing. So what’s customer service vs customer experience? Are the differences significant enough for you to care? Here’s the short version. Customer service is a very important part of customer experience, but it’s by no means the same thing. Confused? Let’s unpack this! What is Customer Service? There are many things that customers want to know and want to experience. Do you have people who are available to answer customers’ questions? Can they advise customers on th ..read more

Do you have a customer relationship management strategy? You have hundreds, even thousands of customers, but it’s possible to build customer relationships all the same. Apart from offering them great products, you want your service to reflect a personalised and efficient customer experience.  That means using data to get to know your customers and optimising every point of contact so that you leave each customer feeling valued. If you are able to achieve this, your customers feel nurtured and develop a bond of loyalty that your competitors will struggle to overcome – even when they offer ..read more

Just when you thought you’d come across every possible metric you could apply to customer satisfaction, you encountered the term “customer effort score.” Is it important enough to warrant your attention? What is a customer effort score, what does it measure and how does one calculate it? You’ll find the answers here.  What is a Customer Effort Score? Customer effort scores measure the level of ease or difficulty that customers experience when interacting with your business to resolve a problem, get information, or make a request. This metric gained a lot of attention following an article ..read more

If you’re in business, you know about selling. But what are sales through service? The best way to explain it is with an example. Could this be one of your best ways of boosting sales revenue while taking good care of your customers? Imagine this scenario.  Your sales prospect is about to convert, but instead of just closing the deal, your customer service agent notices an extra need your customer may have. Perhaps it can be addressed by buying additional items or a rather more complex version of what the customer initially intended to buy.  So far, your prospective client has had a ..read more

The customer relationship marketing definition isn’t absolutely clear from its name. A simple explanation is therefore in order before we proceed with its benefits and what strategies could be applied. Customer relationship marketing is a process in which businesses work to build strong relationships with their customers with the aim of earning customer loyalty. Various marketing strategies and actions are used to achieve this.  Benefits of Customer Relationship Marketing Business strategists who haven’t yet implemented customer relationship marketing strategies may wonder what the point ..read more

Customers are the reason why every business exists. But what is meant by “customer expectations?” One could argue that the relationship is purely transactional. Your business sells something. The customer buys it. You deliver. Case closed. But is it really? Since all of us, no matter what line of business we are in, are customers of other businesses too, we know that we expect something more. But knowing it and putting it into words are two different things.  A clear understanding of customer service expectations can help us to transcend the purely transactional way of doing business, bui ..read more