Customer service should be a key priority of any business. To attract new customers and to keep current customers coming back, there are certain strategies you can employ.

Consider the following:

Always be available
It’s important that customers feel like a priority, like when they need help or assistance that they will get it, without having to wait prolonged or unexplained time frames. Set ground rules for dealing with clients; such as:
– Return calls before the end of the business day
– If a message is left after 4 pm, return by mid morning the following day
– If you need to follow something up for a client, do it and don’t make them wait for an extended period of time.

Implement a feedback process
Feedback is a valuable tool for businesses. Whether it is negative or positive, it can provide you with the necessary data to improve business structures, hence leading to increased customer satisfaction. Develop a feedback process; whether it be an email, a short questionnaire or even asking at the end of each phone call how satisfied the customer was with your business’ service. It is important that you evaluate feedback and implement appropriate changes rather than just ignoring it.

Make it personal
To make customers feel like a priority and important, they need to feel as you are listening to and appreciating their needs as an individual, and not treating them the same as everyone else. Take the time to figure out exactly what their needs are and what they want to get out of their transaction with your business.

Proper training for employees
For the above strategies to work, you need to provide employees with adequate training. Employees need to be autonomous in their position and need to know how to address a variety of different situations so that they can deal with customers efficiently, timely and on a personal level.