How much do you think about customer service in your business? Is it just something that happens in the pursuit of sales, or do you regularly discuss best practice with your team?
Good customer service can mark you out as a great company to do business with. Not only will it keep people coming back to you time and again, it will ensure that these people also recommend you to others.
And, of course, good customer service will increase your chance of converting enquiries into sales – so it’s definitely something worth putting some time and effort into getting right.
Here are our five top tips for using great customer service to help you stand out and get ahead of your competition.
Make sure you have a good understanding of who you are trying to sell to and what they will be looking for. That way you can make great suggestions of properties they might like to consider. By building a good relationship with potential buyers, you will be able to speak to them in their own language, build a rapport and genuinely help them with their property search. All of which will make it easier when it comes to closing a sale.
People like to feel heard. You may have heard the old saying, “We were given two ears and only one mouth” which means we can and should listen twice as much as we talk. This is one of the simplest ways to give good customer service – really listen to what your customer wants. And then act on it.
Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But there is nothing more frustrating for a potential customer than having to wait ages for a response to a question. Have a system in place to check emails and telephone messages on a regular basis and respond as quickly and professionally as you can. The quicker you respond, the quicker you open the lines of communication and the closer you might be to that next big sale.
Don’t respond, meanwhile, and that potential sale will most likely go elsewhere – to someone who did.
Everyone experiences delays and mistakes in business, but the best way to deal with them is to be completely open and honest. If you have made an error, forgotten an appointment or failed to meet a promised deadline, don’t just ignore it. Own up, take responsibility and apologise. This builds trust with your customers and paves the way for an improved relationship in the future.
While it may sometimes feel uncomfortable asking for feedback from customers, most people genuinely don’t mind helping you out. And the knowledge you gain can prove absolutely invaluable. By far the quickest way to improve your customer service is to take onboard comments from customers and do things better next time. Having a system in place to ask for and monitor feedback will keep you and your team learning and improving all the time.
In order to give great customer service it helps to be friendly, but there are lots of other ways you can help your clients or customers to feel valued and listened to. Come up with a few ideas and get your whole team onboard. That way, customers can always expect to receive the same great service however they contact your business. And you never know, they might just sing your praises to other potential customers.
