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:
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.”