SMEs can make an impact with outstanding customer service

It is far easier to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one.

Standardisation is what larger organisations do when it comes to delivering customer service. This has its own problems when it comes to non-standard issues. When everything is smooth, customers can get just that: No problem service. Try an aberration and you will know how bad these large companies could be.

Here is a chance for SMEs to outperform larger competitors by delivering outstanding service.

-It is tough to know your customers but with a lesser number of customers it is much easier than you think. You also can use technology to your aid. Knowing your customers can make things easier for delivering better service and experiences, whether in B2B or B2C. As Peppers and Rogers had advocated decades ago, personalisation is something all of us as customers appreciate. In B2B, you need to know the personal details of multiple stakeholders from gatekeepers (receptionists, telephone operators, private assistants, etc) to various levels of decision makers. Your sales team must know their previous transactions and issues. Create innovative ways to capture such data and also promote specific campaigns to thank customers for their business. Some clients have done out-of-the-way service for the emergency needs of their key customers and never even charged for that.

- Do it right the first time is a motto many companies in customer service used to promote internally. But not always this is possible but customers will always give you a second chance to correct your mistakes. Ensure that you do the right thing the second time. You won’t get a third chance. Take responsibility for your errors and this is something not many large companies do. I personally have had issues with several large brands and never had I seen them admitting their mistakes other than saying a hollow sorry! Admitting to your errors and bringing transparency into the service will help build the loyalty of your customers. The classic example of great service is of Nordstrom, a high-end retail store chain in the USA, which had a “no questions asked” return policy. They once took back a tire from a customer who claimed to have bought from them, even though they never sell tires in any of their stores. The customer had bought a tire from a store that was no more operational and Nordstrom had taken that commercial property for their store. Amazon has an easy return policy for most items on its website. Treat customers as honest and trustworthy instead of how you consider them today: Not trustworthy unless proved otherwise.

- As soon as you get a complaint or an issue faced by your customers, plan to act quickly. Many large organisations say they would get back in 24 to 48 working hours, which should not be construed as one or two days as their working hours are 8 hours a day! This is quite misleading. Many Indian companies have this irritating policy of misleading customers. Instead of saying hours, use days so that there is no confusion for customers. Some companies reply that they would come back within 2 business days and here also there is confusion for some customers. Many uneducated customers don’t understand what is business day. Smaller businesses should be smarter and agile. Use speed of response as a competitive advantage. Build processes to respond to customers faster, especially if your product has some teething issues in its early stages of launch. Similarly, it will be a good practice to have some internal benchmarks if you are in the customer-facing industries. For example, in a showroom or service centre, ensure that someone meets and greets the customer within 2 minutes of her entry and let her know that someone is available in case she needs anything. Many of our SME clients have embraced tech solutions to respond to customer issues quickly and used independent service agents to resolve the issue. This is true of your IVR too where a customer cannot get to speak to someone in an emergency without listening to your promo or multiple choices. Why cannot you make the customer service agent a possible part of the first level of IVR as either ‘0’ or ‘9’?

- Every service representative should be trained on four major aspects of service excellence: empathy, responsiveness, assurance and reliability, For this to happen, it is important to make them learn how to listen to customers instead of reading out from the computer screen. By doing it right, SMEs can learn a lot of insights on new ways of serving customers or initiating new offerings without spending too much on market research. In many companies small and big, the customers have given major suggestions for improving the service or product. However, majority of Indian companies have not trained the service agents in listening to the customers. What else would explain companies telling customers to write their suggestions to an email ID when they are talking to their customer service people on phone? They simply do not care much about feedback and learn from it.

- Finally, remember that great service will give you return in the long term and not necessarily in the short term. It builds reputation as a brand amongst customers and prospective employees. Recall that it is far easier to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Customer lifetime value is what you should be considering and not just transaction value. What’s more, a loyal customer could spread good word of mouth resulting in more customers.