- Hire a people person
In fact, hire many! Some people simply enjoy serving others. This type of person will move your business forward. When recruiting, hire people with a service attitude. Simply put, recruit people who love to serve your customers as part of their natural personality.
- Train them well
It’s about having the right people, with the right skills, in the right place and at the right time! Untrained staff should never be placed in front of a customer.
- Treat employees well
In most cases, it will be the employees of a business who have the most face-to-face contact with the customers. The better they are treated, the happier they will be while at work and this will be evident in the way that they deal with customers.
- Communicate with the team
Regularly inform all of your employees about what is going on in your company. Employees need to know what is happening in the business so that the customer gets the right information too. Make customer feedback an agenda item at every staff meeting.
- Anticipate the needs of the customer
Use knowledge about the customer and the products that they have purchased in the past to predict future needs. It shows them that they have not been forgotten and you have their best interests in mind.
- Be customer centric
Make time for the customer. Always make the customer top priority. Make every decision with the customer in mind. We often forget that our priorities may differ from those of the customer. Treat them as individuals .
We hear that we should treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves. I would argue that we should treat others how they wish to be treated!
- Give customers more than they expect
Customers are more likely to feel loyalty towards a company that have exceeded their expectations, in terms of both customer service and the products that they have purchased.
- Ask customers for feedback
A business may think that it is performing well in terms of customer service but they can never really be sure until they ask their customers what they think. After this information has been gathered, it should be acted on.
- First and last impressions count
How do you make the right impression at the first point of contact, be that by phone or when the customer arrives in the practice? Arguably you’d want your most experienced and customer friendly staff in this role.
But what about the last impression? The collection of a new pair (or several new pairs) of glasses should be your opportunity to really ‘wow’ your customers. Moreover, don’t forget, this last impression may be what they have in mind in two years’ time when they are due to visit the optician again.
- Check out the competition
Do you know who your competitors are and what they offer? Continually look how you can improve and add value. If you do not keep asking and pushing yourself, you will start to slip behind the competition.
Without doubt, your customers will be checking out the competitors and doing the same comparisons. What can you give customers that they cannot get elsewhere?
Read more in the ABDO Business Hub around customer experience.