Vincent Tricarico is EVP for Twinlab Consolidated Corporation and NutraScience Labs and an expert in dietary supplement manufacturing.
Great customer service should be an essential and organic commitment that defines, informs and drives every part of your operation.
It’s vital that your employees, managers, fulfillment team and call-center staff all share a sense of urgency and satisfaction when going above and beyond for your customers.
Part of this urgency should stem from being totally passionate about delivering world-class customer service with employees who are the right fit. Making sure you have the right people to do this starts with culture and includes everything from operations to hiring to recognizing outstanding performance.
Delivering superior customer experience starts with the basics, like making sure all phone calls get answered by a live person who can quickly address any and all inquiries. The so-called little things are crucial when providing an exceptional customer experience.
Competition and community drive companies to improve customer service.
Today’s ever-evolving and increasingly online marketplace forces companies to think differently about the customer experience. If you go back a couple of decades to when the brick-and-mortar retail marketplace was king, you needed only to maintain your relationship with retail partners in a given industry and could expect that they, in turn, would take care of your end user.
Today, however, successful companies and brands know the value of an engaged online community.
In addition to blog articles and video tutorials, positive online reviews and testimonials have become extremely valuable for all types of businesses, be they consumer brands, services, restaurants or hotels.
How often today do we use Google or Yelp before visiting a particular business or dining at a restaurant? Your customers—or potential customers—use these same resources. That’s why it’s important to claim your business on Google and Yelp. But don’t just claim the listings: Take the time to thank people for positive reviews and respond professionally to any that are negative.
Take customer service to the next level.
Good reviews and positive word-of-mouth don’t only come from consumer end-users: On the supply side, they can also come from manufacturing partners.
Case in point: My own company, an up-and-coming sports nutrition company—one which sells its products directly to consumers via Instagram—needed to reformulate our main product to improve its taste and, we hoped, increase sales. We were concerned, however, about the costs involved as well as how delivery timelines might be affected.
We dug into the product and processes. Our food scientist was able to improve the taste with a new formulation, while our team was able to minimize costs, helping improve not only lead times and supply challenges but our customer experience.
The result? A delicious product, growth in both brand awareness and sales on Instagram, increased customer satisfaction, fewer returns, better reviews, manufacturing savings and improved profits.
We had a manufacturing customer for life, and our client had a devoted following of loyal, satisfied customers. That’s what I call customer service.
Here are four tips for delivering outstanding customer service.
1. Make sure the customer feels heard.
Does your customer feel heard? Do they feel as if they’re being treated like a person, not a purchase? Showing empathy—demonstrating that you understand what they’re going through—and championing a people-first approach can turn a complaining customer into a customer for life.
2. Be cool as a cucumber.
While customers may occasionally be irate, responding in a similar tone would most definitely not be helpful. Maintain your composure, offering reassurance that the problem will be resolved and that you are available to help. Assure them that together, you can turn around what need only be a temporarily uncomfortable situation.
3. Get back to the customer as quickly as possible.
If you want to impress a customer, your response and resolution should be quick and respectful. This should apply whether it’s updating them about an order or offering a solution to an issue.
4. Be appreciative.
Being respectful and courteous can go a long way, especially in today’s politeness-challenged times. Making your customer feel genuinely appreciated for their business will keep them coming back.
Take command of your customer experience today.
Providing exceptional customer service should always be a top goal for any business. The better the service, the happier your customers will be—and your organization as a whole will see the benefits.
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