Customer service can be hard, especially when you’re so busy working on getting the next customers that you’re neglecting your current ones.
It’s a normal situation and many entrepreneurs, freelancers and small business owners are guilty of it.
However, it isn’t the biggest one and there are in fact many mistakes. You may be making these other big customer service mistakes as well. That’s why today we’ll show you how to avoid them.
No staff training
This is one of the biggest customer service mistakes because it starts long before you’ve even got your first customers.
Not training your staff adequately can cause you to have lots of problems later on. Your staff are essentially brand ambassadors. Everything they do reflects back on the company and therefore back on you.
You need to provide adequate training in order to teach them how to work with customers. One incident of bad customer service can cause a bad reputation for your business.
Avoid that by providing adequate staff training.
Not putting customers first
There’s a reason they say that the customer is always right. Many business owners have problems with this particular mindset because, technically, customers aren’t always right. Many times, they are dead wrong.
However, your purpose is not to teach them how to think more logically or to act the right way. Your purpose is to ensure that your business thrives. In that way, you’ll have to take a few sacrifices, and one of the biggest sacrifices will be your pride or public “face.”
It is 5-25 times more expensive to get a new customer than to keep a current one, so you have an incentive to work out any problem. You should communicate this same idea to your employees to ensure that the customer is as satisfied as possible.
Not being available
This is one of the biggest customer service mistakes that many business owners make. They are just not reachable—or, it takes about 5 weeks just to get in touch with them.
It is natural, as I mentioned, to be so caught up in getting new customers that you simply aren’t available for your current customers. But, as I also mentioned, it’s much cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one.
If you are not available to your customers, your competitors will be. This is one of the biggest customer service mistakes that leads to losing customers.
The solution is in your hands. Dedicate time, either by yourself or hire someone specifically, to be in touch as much as possible with your current customers.
The biggest customer service mistakes
You don’t have to fall victim to these customer service mistakes. As long as you are working on getting better and better at your customer service, you can be better at your business.
Your business is a living, breathing thing, and it will either grow or shrink and die. You have the tools and the energy to make sure it thrives. You can do it.
Good luck!
