The Importance of Customer Support and Services as a Partnership Tool

Updated: Feb 16, 2018

Years ago, traditional Customer Service was mainly viewed as a cost center. It required customers to call during specified business hours and often wait on hold for help, wait for managerial approvals to be able to resolve many issues and many call centers were relegated to outsourced locations sometimes in other countries. There are still customer services that work like this.

The New Customer Support is now viewed as the face of the company, a critical component of Sales, Marketing and Product Development. Customer support applies the principles of customer service in helping customers solve problems and make decisions, but in addition, functions as part sales, part tech support, and part customer success. Customer Service or Customer Support may be defined in many ways; however it recaps as follows:

“Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer’s needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer’s requirements are met. Customer service is meeting the needs and desires of any customer.”

This being such a critical part of any business, how can you make Customers fall in Love with your business thru Customer Support:

  • Make Customers Happy – Genuinely talk with your customers as a person representing the business. Address your customers by name, and tell them your name at the very beginning of your interaction. Talk to your customers as you would in person and make them feel important.
  • Respect your Customers – Keeping your patience is key to giving your customer the time to air out their issue. In return, it creates the opportunity for you to help resolve the issue and make them feel comfortable. The more comfortable the customer feels, the more likely they’ll share valuable feedback that can help prevent similar issues from occurring again in the future.
  • Listen to what your Customer says – It’s important to truly listen. When listening to your customers, take into account what changes your organization should make from this feedback, and then follow through.
  • Continue with Customer Satisfaction – Do everything in your power to provide excellent service to your customers on an ongoing basis.
  • Treat the Customer Like a Valued Partner – Communication is Two Way, take your customer’s feedback seriously and act upon reasonable requests. Make sure it’s clear that you demonstrate that you appreciate your customer’s feedback and that your business truly values them as a partner.
  • Be Transparent with your Customers – Transparency is a critical factor in building trust, satisfaction, and love from your customers. Transparency means that you are not afraid of feedback; you can let the Customers know of the good and sometimes not so good things that happen. Transparency means that you are not afraid of feedback and have nothing to hide

Customer-retention-oriented businesses need to approach every support interaction as an opportunity to acquire and retain customers, up sell and as an opportunity of product development as well.

Gary Vaynerchuk, an American entrepreneur, four-time New York Times bestselling author, speaker and internet personality states: “undeniable evidence that there is financial gain for any size company that is willing to open the lines of communication with its customers and market to them in a personal, caring way that makes them feel valued.”

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