If you have a business running right now, you want to make your customer service your top priority. Yes, the rest of the details of your company are going to be important, but if you don’t have happy paying customers, then you’re never going to make it in the business world. It doesn’t matter how good of an idea you have or how good your product or service is, client relationships are going to be what build the structure and foundation of your financial well being.
That being said, what are some ways that you can begin to create this prioritization? First, pay very close attention to customer satisfaction feedback loops. Then, don’t be afraid to give out surveys for continuous improvement. There are plenty of software packages that do this. And Speaking of software, if you utilize project management software, you’ll find that creating a customer service segment of your workflow is crucial. Depending on the size of your company, make sure that your customer service prioritization connects through all of your departments.
Feedback Loops
Start with the idea of getting great customer feedback. This doesn’t mean that the feedback is going to necessarily be positive. It does mean that no matter what the input is, you can create something positive from it. In this day and age, technology is spectacularly set up for the smallest feedback loops possible. Use this to your advantage, or one of your competitors will.
Surveys for Continuous Improvement
Next, consider giving out regular customer surveys. These don’t have to be annoying. They don’t have to be in-depth. What they have to be is targeted. You can even potentially give customers some coupon or discount for filling out all of the specific information that you have in mind. Data is expensive, but if you exchange it for something of value from your company, that will work to your benefit and create a positive customer service tunnel for your branding efforts.
Project Management Software
Does your company already use project management software? You probably have some type on your administrative level. However, if you decide that customer service is going to take a larger role in your company structure, that means that you should utilize your project management software to help you handle this new concept strategically. When you find a project management software that matches your company size, goals, and scalability, you’ll wonder why you did not have this in effect the whole time your business has been operating.
Connected Departments
Finally, one way to prioritize customer service and satisfaction is by ensuring a proper handoff of data and relationships from one department to the next. For example, if you have a separate sales department from your technical department, what happens when a client goes from one person to the next? You may lose some valuable information in the process. However, if your departments are connected appropriately with this emphasis on customer satisfaction, then the handoff should be seamless.
