6 ways to improve customer service in retail
The retail sector has become rather notorious for not paying enough attention to that all important area: customer service.
A helpdesk system such as the one that’s offered by Kayako can definitely help, but the fact of the matter is that you need to go in all guns blazing if you want to be successful. Here are some customer service tips to help you do that.
#1 Take it a customer at a time
A major mistake that a lot of retailers make is that they fail to grasp the concept of taking it one customer at a time. You often end up getting so overwhelmed when you are faced with an entire army of customers so it is understandable that you would try to solve the problem all at once. However, this usually ends up doing a lot more bad than good, so try to create a culture where your CSRs take it a step at a time for maximum benefit.
#2 Put in extra effort
It is up to you to make sure that all of the people that end up acquiring their products and services from you get the best service possible. You need to take the extra steps and go the extra mile. Make sure that whenever a customer makes a complaint you follow up or you have someone else follow up. The key to good customer service in this sector is creating a way for customers to feel like they are all important, and if you go the distance you will find that your customers are going to start respecting you a lot more as well.
#3 Get on a first name basis
This is something that can be a little risky but the fact of the matter is that if you time it right it can end up being something that can allow you to get to a whole new level of customer service that would have people truly raving about the kind of service you are willing to offer them. You should also take it a step further. Find out when your customers have birthdays coming up and maybe give them something nice! Try to personalize the experience as much as you can. This will help you out a great deal in the long run.
#4 Always be present
This is possibly of the utmost importance in the world of retail customer service. The fact of the matter is that if you want your customers to take you seriously, you need to be ready to make the most of the time that you are spending with them. They might need help at any point in time, even in the middle of the night or on a Sunday. The fact of the matter is that you have a lot of competitors that you are going to have to beat if you want to emerge victorious in the struggle for retail supremacy, and always being present is one way to make sure that you have an edge over them.
#5 Treat all customers equally
This is something that can often be extremely difficult because the fact that we need to be able to handle a higher volume of customers in the world of retail. That being said, there are a number of ways in which you can treat your customers equally. Just make sure that the average conflict resolution time becomes optimal so that none of your customers can complain that others are receiving preferential treatment.
#6 Focus on employee care
If you want to be able to make the most of the work that you are doing you need to take care of your employees. The fact of the matter is that a happy employee is more likely to give customers the kind of treatment they need, and in situations where they are unhappy they might be too stressed out to treat customers with the right level of politeness and professionalism. Customers can often be very demanding indeed, so much so that they might become pushy in some ways. Keeping your employees happy will help them deal with this.
