Let’s face it, customers (including ourselves) expect quick and efficient responses! RESPONSIVENESS is KEY! We are living in a time, where everything is immediate and fast-paced and customers expect instant gratification!

If your business doesn’t respond to their enquiries, questions, complaints and reviews promptly, chances are that they will simply take their business elsewhere!

It’s a big world out there and you have a lot of competition!

Do you want to know to ensure that your business is always responsive? 

We have a few tips!

#1 Automation – set up a system for responding to customer enquiries (Read our blog on Whatsapp for Business). It can be anything from email workflows, chatbots, CRM systems, IVR systems, WhatsApp or messaging systems to streamline the process of responding to and resolving customer queries. Make sure to prominently display them on your website and social media to encourage the customers to use them and very important is to make it clear and easy for customers to know how to address common issues and how to escalate more complex enquiries or problems to the appropriate individual. Your customers will be grateful for the ease of dealing with your business and will bear that in mind the next time they need a service or product like yours.

#2 Train your crew! When it gets to the point that an actual real live person is now involved, the result comes down to how your crew handles that customer enquiry. From that very first spoken word, an impression is formed, through customer experience/employee service and delivery, it will leave either a sour or sweet taste in your customers’ mouths. You want your customer to feel like they’ve just eaten the most delicious, cooling, creamy bowl of ice cream ever and they WANT MORE, and hey, throw in the cherry on top why don’t you! 

Have you made sure your team is dedicated to giving the very best service? Investing in your crew from management to delivery teams is key in ensuring high levels of motivation, satisfaction and delivery, which affects your bottom line. 

#3 Be proactive – don’t wait for the customer to come to you, you go to them. Be different, and stand out from your competition – check in with your customers to see if they actually need any assistance or have any queries or concerns. Show them you genuinely care, you’re willing, you appreciate them, and you are here to listen – just like a good friend in times of need!

Waiting for customers to come to you with their issues or concerns is “so 2022”, by being proactive and anticipating your customer’s needs, you can build stronger relationships, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive business growth.

#4 It’s never too late to apologiiiiiiiiise! There are now a plethora of platforms that a client can choose to get hold of your business and write a scathing review if they are unhappy (Facebook, LinkedIn, your website, even Google Business Reviews!). Regardless of the channel a customer uses, the only thing you need to do is to respond, even if it’s publicly. Apologise and make amends or diplomatically stand your ground, be as authentic as you can and show that you are human, you make mistakes and you own them, and you are willing to make things better! This can help turn a negative experience into a positive one and put a positive spin on taking accountability.

We hope you are now ready to meet the needs of your customers with gusto! No MORE will you lose out on a potential customer because you took too long to respond! And, just because we love you so much, check out his brilliant blog post from Zendesk on 10 ways to deliver good customer service: examples, principles & definition