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MARCH 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO SUPPORT
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Listen, Respond,
Delight: A Guide to
Customer Service
Knowing your customers’ needs and meeting them is key in any
business. This is a simple message. But, how good is your business
at listening and responding to customer needs? Nikki Wyatt,
NAPIT’s Customer Service Manager, considers the importance
of quality customer service with a step by step approach...
Step 1: Understand
your customer needs
Step 3: Delight
customers
To deliver a reliable and professional service, the first thing you
need to do is to understand your
customers. You can achieve this
by listening to their needs through
various channels such as email,
social media and conversations
over the phone. It is key to record
any responses that you receive
about your business and then you
can act on any that require your
attention.
The road to delighting your
customers can be as simple as
treating them fairly and ensuring
you get your product or service
right the first time. It is important
to remember that the customer
is always right and occasionally,
by going that extra mile, you can
turn a satisfied customer into a
delighted customer, making them
more likely to use your services
again. Simple measures such as
offering free checks while you’re
repairing something in a home
can make the world of difference.
Also, if you ensure your postsales service is of the highest
quality, it will vastly improve the
relationship between you and
your customers. If you make a
focused effort to ask for feedback, it shows your customers
how much you care and improve
the quality of your service.
Something as simple as calling a
customer a week after the work
is completed to check they are
happy could be the difference
between them requesting your
services again or looking elsewhere.
‘understanding your
customers makes it
easier to anticipate
what they expect’
With good lines of communication by listening to and understanding your customers it makes
it easier to anticipate what they
expect. Discussing the contract
with your customers before and
after the work is completed could
be incredibly useful for ensuring
you are delivering the best possible service and putting your customer at ease, both of which could
lead to driving repeat business.
Step 2: Meet your
customer needs
Ensure that any products or services that your business provides
match the expectations of your
customers. This could include setting out timescales for any work to
be completed with your customer
and then meeting those deadlines.
If you are unable to meet the
agreed deadlines, then make sure
you are open and honest with cus-
tomers about what has changed
to reach a solution and continue
to manage any expectations they
may have.
By constantly asking your customers for feedback and using it
to keep your services up to date
to their needs, you make it simple
for people to do business with
your company, which could lead
to being recommended more for
your services.
Step 4: Create loyalty
By adopting the three previous
steps, your company can then
instill a sense of loyalty with
your customers. A company that
listens to their customers, meets
their needs and strives to delight
them will maintain a fantastic relationship with their customers.
By pushing to create