Time and time again, consumers find themselves battling big companies. Maybe they are looking to get you to pay for a service you have not received or have not processed an invoice correctly. Inevitably, as with many big companies, mistakes are made and an attempt could be made to try and pass the cost on to the customer. There is still very much an idea that telephone users are regularly battling big businesses and in a turbulent market, it is important to stand out from your competitors for the right reasons - no matter how big your company is.
If you search on Google, you will find page after page of individual complaints about telephone providers as well as news stories such as the woman who was told that keeping her telephone number would cost her $22,000 as lines to her village were at saturation point and to install new lines would also involve erecting telegraph poles.
In December 2009, Ofcom published statistics that revealed 23% of the UK population made a complaint to their mobile, broadband or landline service provider that year. A third of complaints (about 3 million customers) did not have their complaints resolved within 12 weeks. Not only is the amount of people leveling complaints concerning, the wait customers experience for a resolution is clearly not acceptable and bad business practice. Astonishingly, 92% of customers were reported to be satisfied with the service they saw from the telecoms provider. Is it possible that the consumer is being 'fobbed off' by huge companies who have the capabilities to appease customers at a early opportunity?
However, it is not just individuals that can experience bad customer service, business to business customer service should be under close scrutiny too when you are looking for a business telephone systems provider. As a small business, how often do you find yourself chasing other companies for invoices that are small fry to them but the difference between whether your customer service staff get paid or not? It is all interlinked with good communication
How can companies improve their 'customer service' to other businesses'?
1. Failing computer systems are a living nightmare for your customer service staff and customers alike. This may be due to inadequate installation or even design flaws so before choosing a business telephone system costing thousands of pounds, see how it works for other organizations.
2. Data not being recorded properly by customer service staff. Does your business have a high turnover of customer service staff? If this is the case then it is possible that those with all the knowledge of how to work your telephone system are leaving before newer customer service staff have the chance to master the basics.
3. Automated systems can be incredibly frustrating as some systems will have you going around in circles! Is there any way your company can cut down on excessive button pressing before customers get through to a person?
4. Will customers get through to the right person to deal with their enquiry? Customer dissatisfaction increases hugely when an individual feels as though they have been pushed from pillar to post as they are not put through to the right person in the first place. Ensure customer service staff know which department deals with and how they can use this to help customers.
There are several methods to improve customer service but many require funding. However, if smarter choices are made to begin with, implementing small customer service staff training changes should be vastly easier and make a big difference to customers.
