When you are running a business and trying to increase your recognition and profits, you need to consider your customers’ experience as a whole. There are many seemingly small and unimportant factors that could end up shaping the way your clients perceive your business, and eventually, decrease or increase your customer retention.
Even if you are offering competitive prices, innovative products, and have a great marketing strategy in place, something as simple as a grumpy receptionist can result in a negative customer experience. In today’s ultra competitive market, these negative experiences could easily cost your business a big amount of its profits.
Customer service has quickly become one of the biggest brand differentiators that can either make or break your business. Regardless of the type of business that you are running, you are certainly going to be facing some competition. If a customer isn’t satisfied with your business, a quick internet search will help them discover a rival company that can offer similar services.
In fact, customer service is so important that research has shown that 82% of people have stopped doing business with a company after a bad customer service experience. And up to 53% of customers will change to a different business if they don’t appreciated.
To fully understand the effect of positive or negative customer service, imagine being a customer looking to hire a service. You have done your research and have settled for a particular business that offers lower prices, high quality products, and seems to be a trustworthy option. You find a phone number on their website, and decide to call to ask some questions.
That is when it all starts to go wrong. Maybe your phone call goes straight to voicemail, or you get tired after trying to call numerous times without success. Or worse: your call is answered by a grumpy receptionist. They are clearly exhausted, overworked, and unable to provide good customer service. Eventually, you hang up feeling like this business is no longer an option for you. After all, you are certain that you will be able to find another company to provide the same services.
Can you imagine how disappointed you would be if this happened to you? We have all had some negative experiences dealing with a company. But when you are the one in charge, you need to take all the details into consideration in order to fully optimize your business’ operations.
There are many situations that can make your on-site staff feel exhausted, stressed out, and overworked. They already have to deal with numerous tasks everyday, such as scheduling appointments, handling cancellations, charging customers, and receiving supplies. Throw a phone that never seems to stop ringing into the mix, and you have a recipe for disaster on your hands.
But if your customers call and are immediately greeted by a friendly, warm, professional voice, they will feel valued and satisfied with the attention that they are receiving. Clients who have the opportunity to voice their concerns and obtain answers from staff who are committed to delivering a positive experience will be much more likely to remain loyal to your business, and even to recommend it to others.
It all sounds great, but how are you supposed to achieve this without going over your budget? Hiring new staff is always expensive. The answer is simple: virtual answering services. Creating a virtual reception where each phone call is handled by a professional operator, regardless of time or date, can increase customer satisfaction and retention.
Virtual answering service operators are fully-trained professionals who work from different time zones to provide a 24/7 reception for your company. The services they provide are also fully customizable, and you can choose exactly which phone calls they will answer, which calls will be transferred to your staff, and how they should take messages. Once you hire a virtual reception service, no phone call will go unanswered, your customers will be greeted by a friendly receptionist, and your on-site staff will have one less task to deal with.
If you are looking to differentiate your company from its competitors, making sure that you are providing top-notch customer service is definitely the way to go. Once your clients realize that your business values them and takes their concerns into consideration, your word-of-mouth reputation will start to grow – and so will your profits.
In order to provide a positive customer experience from the moment a client first reaches out to your company, few things will be as helpful as a virtual receptionist service. Callers will associate your business with friendly voices and caring staff, and you will see positive results in no time.
