Trying to be ahead of competitors and offering customers the next big thing is a strategy that many businesses focus on, investing time, resources and finances into something that is very difficult to achieve.
Of course, no business has ever succeeded by playing it safe and not striving to achieve the impossible. Businesses should remember that when planning, we are always told to be realistic and one area where one can be realistic is focusing on proactive customer service rather than reactive customer service.
How can this be done? Being proactive in the service that you offer occurs when a company resolves any issues for a customer that they may not even be aware of yet.
This is done by anticipating any problems that may occur and establishing a way to avoid these issues happening. It also involves implementing a process to solve the issue and fix the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Gathering customer feedback allows a company to identify exactly how the customer engages in the customer journey across also customer touchpoints. Data can be examined at a high level to identify where issues may occur and help to improve the journey for future customers. This is an excellent way to be proactive and there are many different solutions that a company can use to measure the customer journey.
There are huge benefits when a business commits to being proactive in their customer service. Firstly, the organisation as a whole will have a lot more free time as they will have less customer queries and calls relating to issues with the service.
When there are less queries, costs can be reduced as staff and team members will be able to utilise this time to complete other tasks in the business.
One member of the team should be assigned with checking in on feedback and comments submitted to a company through a feedback system, but as time moves on and changes are made, time spent on this task will fall dramatically. However, it is important not to be complacent as things change quickly and your service may be effected by external issues, for example postage delays.
Word of mouth is still a very popular aspect of business growth and when service is proactive and issues are minimal, brand reputation increase with brand advocates spreading the word that your business goes above and beyond.
Implementing a customer feedback system can allow an organisation to not only make improvements and efficiencies to the customer experience, but also the processes. The company can then compile common issues and send these to regular customers and explain why delays occur, or the reasoning behind business processes, for example ensuring a product meets a quality standard and this will reassure to the customer that they are receiving a superior product or service.
For more information on how we can help your business become more proactive and assist you on gathering feedback, please fill out a form below or email us info@tellusfirst.com.
