Customer service is an aspect of any business, whether a large corporate organization or small home business run by a single individual. The way a business presents itself to customers, either potential or actual, can make a huge difference in terms of promotion, loyalty and the likelihood of success.
No business succeeds without customers, and in order to attract customers, it is increasingly necessary for businesses to be approachable, contactable, and interested in communicating with customers whenever there are any queries or issues relating to the products or services available.
In the modern world of internet technology, more and more customers today are often beginning to expect that businesses can be contacted at any time, and day, and in a way which is convenient. In the twenty first century we have shed the expectations that we had of only being able to contact a business or company between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. With international time zones, more people working weekends, and working hours no longer traditional, we all expect to be able to pick up the phone, or send an email, and have our queries or concerns dealt with promptly.
If you are seeking to buy in to a franchise or business opportunity, it will be important to understand in advance what the customer service arrangements involve. Will you be responsible for any issues that arise, and need to provide a means by which customers can contact you directly, or is there a customer service center or arrangement already in place? If you will be relying on an outsourced service center, then you may find that giving them a call yourself, alleging to be a potential customer, reveals the level of support which your own customers could face.
Although outsourcing of service centers is increasingly common, primarily as a means to cut costs and long term overheads, it can sometimes cause problems for customers who have difficulties communicating with people who do not speak the same language fluently, or have strong accents, limited knowledge of the product or service, or limited access to relevant information about you and your account.
But the issue of providing support for customers will be something you'll need to approach yourself if the responsibility with a franchise opportunity is left with you and if you are starting out on your own with your business idea as an independent entrepreneur.
If customers are not happy with the level of customer service, such as failing to have queries dealt with, having to wait excessive periods of time to wait for a response, having responses which make little sense, offer little support, express little concern or fail to resolve the issue quickly and effectively, then the chances are high that you will lose that customer.
More than this, by losing a customer, you are highly likely to lose any potential sales you may have acquired through recommendation. With so much choice available and so much variety, increasingly we are relying on personal recommendations, and online reviews, to help make up our mind on whether to commit to a retailer or service provider, especially if it is likely to be for a significant sum or a long term contractual arrangement.
Failing to provide adequate customer service can easily result in losing out on personal recommendations, and could easily result in publically viewable reviews advising against your company or service. The internet can easily work in your favor, but similarly it can work against you if you fail to meet expectations.
To a large extent, the importance and intensity of customer service is likely to depend on the nature of the business in which you become involved. If you're seeking to start out as an individual entrepreneur, working from home with little direct contact with customers, then you may consider the importance of customer service to be less of a priority than those entering into a business arrangement which has massive contact with customers and relies heavily on customer loyalty.
This is turn may impact on your decision when it comes to deciding what kind of business to enter into, what kind of franchise opportunity to become involved with, or the nature of any solo business you choose to initiate. Are you a people person? Do you like solving problems and offering a high level of service to customers? If not, then a business model which relies upon this may not be for you, and the issue of outsourcing the service center becomes one to consider.
Ultimately it will be important to think about customer service not from the business point of view alone, taking on board the financing, the time, the means by which issues can be filed, dealt with, followed up and referred back, but also from the point of view of your customers. Happy customers equate to customer loyalty and recommendations, which in turn results in a more profitable and successful business. Get your customer service right and you're more likely to see the business succeeding where other, perhaps larger companies are losing sight of the very blood which made them successful in the first place.
