What Makes Great Customer Service?

At Canadian POS Corporation, we pride ourselves on offering our clients incomparable customer service. We’re aware that regardless of how much they may enjoy using our POS terminals to accept Visa, MasterCard and Interac payments from their customers, it’s important to them that we provide friendly, knowledgeable service every time they give us a call.

Customer service is what usually keeps customers coming back. It is the experience of shopping – not just the products themselves – that consumers truly enjoy. On HelpScout.net, a number of easy-to-follow customer service tips are provided. As we often like to do on the Canadian POS Corporation Blog, we’ll be examining that list and offering our take on what makes great customer service.

Utilize The Element of Surprise. Providing acts of kindness is a great way to pleasantly surprise your customers. When they are the recipient of nice gestures, they tend to remember them over and above the standard shopping experience. It could make a big difference if you surprise your customers with things such as free items, promotional gifts or random discounts.

Find Common Ground. Great customer service has a lot to do with the type of relationships you develop with your customers. After all, your intent should be to keep your customers for the long haul. If your customers genuinely like you, chances are that they will keep returning to your store. It’s all about finding common ground. Find out about your customers and see what you have in common.

Give Credence To Complaints. Being dismissive about any problems or concerns that your clients may have will get you nowhere. As HelpScout.net affirms, “although nobody likes dealing with customer complaints, a variety of data shows that between 70 to 90 percent of customers are willing to do business with you again if you can successfully resolve their issue the first time around.”

Use Positive Language. It’s all about how you use your words. Customers want to know that you’ll do all you can to please them. So be sure to communicate that to them. In other words, instead of explaining what you can’t do, inform them of what you can do. Don’t say that “the product is unavailable until next month.” Say “I’ll be happy to place the order for that product so that you get it as soon it arrives next month.”

Slow Things Down. You don’t always have to provide fast service in order for it to be good. The quality of your service is what reigns supreme in the minds of your customers. So if things may take extra time to complete, let your customers know that you are on top of things. Don’t assume that rushing to meet a deadline will benefit your bottom line. Take the time to get the job done right the first time.

Know How To Close. “The ability to ‘close’ is one of the most essential service skills that you can have, and it is severely underrated,” says HelpScout.net, “The fact is, leaving an issue unresolved is one of the last things that customers want to deal with, so taking the time to confirm that every issue brought forward has been solved is critical in sending them away happy.”