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If your business has unhappy customers, or you are looking for ways to make your customer service even better, there are some simple things you can do to improve. In this article we look at easy ways that you can make your customers connect with your brand, become loyal customers, and spread the message to their friends.

Be Proactive

When you take a very proactive and professional approach to customer service in your business, you may find that everything starts to work better. Your sales team will be the first to directly benefit, especially those that are contacting your existing customers. You will also find that your business will become less of a commodity, and you may also be in a position to charge higher prices if and when you so desire.

Quicker Responses

Your customers expect you to answer the phone quicker (within 5 rings), and respond to emails (within 24 hours) sooner. There are always ways that you can work on improving this. As an example if a certain telephone extension is busy the call should be diverted to somebody else in the same department. However, in some cases you may have to make a trade-off between costs and customer service. Think of ways that you can deal with queries easier, and ways that you can have customers avoid calling in the first place, and you might find you can lower your call load in a cost effective way.

Faster Resolutions

Being passed from department to department, and waiting for someone to call you back isn't a great customer service experience. Consider methods that you could use to resolve your customers' questions on the first call. Also, when a customer does have to be passed onto another department, make sure the person passing them on ensures the other department is able to resolve their problem.

Straight Talking

In customer service, the sad thing is that certain problems can't be resolved. In many cases the customer will be angry to learn this. And as a result, the person will be passed from department to department because no agent is willing to give the bad news. Teach your employees that good customer service doesn't always involve passing on good news. It does, however, involve passing it on in a positive way.

Be Proactive

When something is wrong with a customer's account, you shouldn't wait for them to contact you. Instead you should proactively contact them and let them know. Also, if you do this by email, for example, then it may mean that you can also save money that you would otherwise have to spend answering customer services calls. Be polite to your customers, and they might in turn be polite to you.

Personal Relationships

Although everyone in your company might be able to get up to speed on a customer's account through taking a peak in your CRM software, customers like to think they have a personal relationship with someone in your company. Encourage customers to speak to the same person, and take their extension number. This is the single most effective way to make your customers happier, and therefore come back when they next need to place an order.