<\/p>\n
Who owns your social networking profiles? Is it marketing, recruitment, communications or customer service? Too many companies are in the dark about who\u2019s actually running their profiles \u2013 establish which departments will have access, and empower at least one of your customer service representatives to work closely alongside the social media team. You won\u2019t solve any problems if all of your employees think it\u2019s someone else\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n 2. Set Expectations<\/strong><\/p>\n Tell your followers what to expect, including when you\u2019ll be around to answer questions. You can add this information to your \u2018about\u2019 information on most of the major social networking sites, and it will reassure visitors that they\u2019re not being ignored if they contact you out of hours. Some brands, who carry out large amounts of social customer service, go so far as to regularly update the estimated waiting time for a response using a banner in their profile\u2019s header.<\/p>\n 3. Monitor in Real-Time<\/strong><\/p>\n Use a social media dashboard like TweetDeck or Hootsuite so that you can view all of your company\u2019s social networking mentions in one place, in real-time. Good software will display an alert to tell you that something new has been posted, allowing you to respond to people in just a couple of seconds if you\u2019re sitting at your computer at the time of their complaint or query.<\/p>\n 4. Respond Within an Hour<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s imperative to monitor your social media platforms in real-time and to respond to customer questions and complaints as quickly as possible \u2013 in fact, 42% of customers who complain through social media expect a response within an hour, and if you don\u2019t get back to them quickly, it\u2019s easy for them to go to a different company, one which answers their questions.<\/p>\n 5. Follow up Offline<\/strong><\/p>\n Customer service through social is no different to customer service over the telephone \u2013 sure, you can offer help and advice to your customers, but sometimes that\u2019s not enough. If you need to ship a replacement, or if you need to pick up the phone to call the customer, then do so \u2013 in fact, whilst social customer service is rapidly becoming the norm, you can still impress people (and ultimately turn them into a brand advocate) by simply taking a problem they complained about on social and solving it for them in the real world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The last thing a customer wants to see in their inbox is an automated\/robotic response to their enquiry. Make your email response sound personal by explaining the actions you have taken to resolve the enquiry. Use first person, \u2018I will look into this\u2019 in all communication, also \u2018Good morning\u2019, \u2018Good afternoon\u2019 greetings will reassure your customers that they are dealing with someone in the same time zone. If the enquiry is not resolved, don\u2019t be afraid to ask questions, a customer expects a collaborative process when dealing with an issue, so ensure you are fully engaged. We have seen that by encouraging two-way communication to resolve issues, customers trust the brand more due to the personal experience they\u2019ve had with employees. From our branding survey of 500 customers, 56% have said they find our customer service department very easy to contact and they like that it has a \u2018human feel\u2019.<\/p>\n 2. Respond Quickly<\/strong><\/p>\n A customer has already taken the time to send an enquiry, at fivesquid.com our rule of thumb is \u2018don\u2019t let an email stew for more than 3 hours\u2019. Even if you don\u2019t resolve the issue or enquiry instantly, introduce yourself and let them know you will be looking into certain areas and will get back to them with a follow up\/solution shortly. Response speed can also be greatly affected by the customer service software you use (see tip 4).<\/p>\n 3. One Person Per Enquiry<\/strong><\/p>\n Get one person to deal with the whole customer enquiry. Customers need to feel like you have everything under control. If too many people are dealing with one enquiry, the customer will lose trust and get frustrated. This is also important for tracking purposes, if things go wrong, you can check back and see who the responsible person was. If the same customer contacts again, you can also check the history and see who the last person to look into their enquiry was. You have to also remember that customers have a lot more portals to contact customer service, from social media to emails. Let a customer clearly know who will be the main person looking after their enquiry so they don\u2019t have to go through five different portals saying the same thing to get their enquiry looked into.<\/p>\n 4. Install a Ticket System<\/strong><\/p>\n Ticket systems not only save time but also let you keep on top of all customer enquiries coming through. With ticket systems like Zendesk, you can do customer enquiry profiling, which will ensure that your communication is always personalised, and up-to date.\u00a0 Here at fivesquid.com we track where the customer journey starts (whether it\u2019s social media, phone call or email) and ensure we check the information shared with us to avoid having to ask the customer to explain more than once.<\/p>\n 5. Offer Language Options<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have a business that operates internationally, you might want to think about getting customer service representatives who speak the language where your business operates. If you get a customer service enquiry from Germany, being able to respond in German will grow brand trust and will show customers you are an international company that caters to different customer needs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. Listening<\/strong><\/p>\n Obvious I know, but people often get confused that \u2018hearing\u2019 what the customer says equates to \u2018listening\u2019. To deliver a great service, you really need to fully understand exactly what the customer wants and that comes with giving the customer your undivided attention and ensuring you know exactly what it is they want from you.<\/p>\n 2. Knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n Being well prepared for any conversation that might ensue is always a big help. Knowing your products and systems helps to put you on the front foot from the start. If you sound like you are trying to make things up it can immediately allow the customer to lose confidence in what you are saying. Equally it\u2019s important to be honest where you don\u2019t have the knowledge and not try to lie your way through.<\/p>\n 3. Make Achievable Promises<\/strong><\/p>\n The old adage of \u2018over promise, under achieve\u2019 is something that still drives customers mad. When committing to something for a customer, make sure that you deliver. It can be too easy sometimes to agree to something that just can\u2019t happen, and that can only lead to an unhappy customer.<\/p>\n 4. Body Language<\/strong><\/p>\n People often think that body language is only important when face to face with customers, but that simply isn\u2019t the case. It is just as important over the telephone to demonstrate positive body language. Your posture in particular will affect your pitch, tone and pace, and this can have a big effect on how the conversation goes.<\/p>\n 5. Clarification<\/strong><\/p>\n Have you ever proposed a solution to a customer only to find out that it wasn\u2019t what they wanted in the first place? It goes hand in hand with getting the listening bit right, but summarising and clarifying the conversation and any actions that have been requested will ensure that you have captured everything and are on the same wave length as the customer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. Stop<\/strong><\/p>\n Take a step back and examine your entire customer service set-up. Consider what is working well and what is not working well. Stop doing what is not working well and put new procedures in place. An example of this could be implementing an out of hours customer service support line.<\/p>\n 2. Look<\/strong><\/p>\n Get out all the documents that you send to customers e.g. contracts, standard letters, brochures, bills and statements. Lay them on the desk in front of you and take a long hard look at them. Are they easy to understand? Are all the contact details correct? Do they all have consistent branding? If not, then change them.<\/p>\n 3. Listen<\/strong><\/p>\n At least once a year carry out a customer service survey. You can do this on the telephone or by post or email.\u00a0 Ask your customers to rate your service and for ideas on how you can improve it.<\/p>\n 4. Train<\/strong><\/p>\n Ensure all your customer service staff are trained to the same high standard. Consider cross-training other staff in customer service too. Once a year carry out a customer service test to ensure all staff can pass a certain benchmark standard.<\/p>\n 5. Learn<\/strong><\/p>\n Keep a keen eye on new techniques to improve customer service.\u00a0 An example of this could be to implement an online rating system such as Feefo. Join relevant industry bodies such as the Institute of Customer Service and any relevant LinkedIn groups.\u00a0 Use these forums to learn how other companies are acing customer service.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thanks to all our contributors for their valuable advice. For more expert tips be sure to follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We Operate in Some of the World’s Top Cities:<\/span><\/p>\n London<\/a>, New York<\/a>, San Francisco<\/a>, Paris<\/a>, Singapore<\/a>, Hong Kong<\/a>, In today\u2019s edition of Tips from the Experts, we asked four business professionals to share their \u00a0five best pieces of customer service advice. Dane Cobain, Social Media Specialist at FST 1. Assign Responsibility Who owns your social networking profiles? Is it marketing, recruitment, communications or customer service? Too many companies are in the dark about who\u2019s actually running their profiles \u2013 establish which departments will have access, and empower at least one of your customer service representatives to work closely alongside the social media team. You won\u2019t solve any problems if all of your employees think it\u2019s someone else\u2019s responsibility. 2. Set Expectations Tell your followers what to expect, including when you\u2019ll be around to answer questions. You can add this information to your \u2018about\u2019 information on most of the major social networking sites, and it will reassure visitors that they\u2019re not being ignored if they contact you out of hours. Some brands, who carry out large amounts of social customer service, go so far as to regularly update the estimated waiting time for a response using a banner in their profile\u2019s header. 3. Monitor in Real-Time Use a social media dashboard like TweetDeck or Hootsuite so that you can view all of your company\u2019s social networking mentions in one place, in real-time. Good software will display an alert to tell you that something new has been posted, allowing you to respond to people in just a couple of seconds if you\u2019re sitting at your computer at the time of their complaint or query. 4. Respond Within an Hour It\u2019s imperative to monitor your social media platforms in real-time and to respond to customer questions and complaints as quickly as possible \u2013 in fact, 42% of customers who complain through social media expect a response within an hour, and if you don\u2019t get back to them quickly, it\u2019s easy for them to go to a different company, one which answers their questions. 5. Follow up Offline Customer service through social is no different to customer service over the telephone \u2013 sure, you can offer help and advice to your customers, but sometimes that\u2019s not enough. If you need to ship a replacement, or if you need to pick up the phone to call the customer, then do so \u2013 in fact, whilst social customer service is rapidly becoming the norm, you can still impress people (and ultimately turn them into a brand advocate) by simply taking a problem they complained about on social and solving it for them in the real world. Terry Koutsios, Founder & Operations Director at FiveSquid 1. Sound Personal The last thing a customer wants to see in their inbox is an automated\/robotic response to their enquiry. Make your email response sound personal by explaining the actions you have taken to resolve the enquiry. Use first person, \u2018I will look into this\u2019 in all communication, also \u2018Good morning\u2019, \u2018Good afternoon\u2019 greetings will reassure your customers that they are dealing with someone in the same time zone. If the enquiry is not resolved, don\u2019t be afraid to ask questions, a customer expects a collaborative process when dealing with an issue, so ensure you are fully engaged. We have seen that by encouraging two-way communication to resolve issues, customers trust the brand more due to the personal experience they\u2019ve had with employees. From our branding survey of 500 customers, 56% have said they find our customer service department very easy to contact and they like that it has a \u2018human feel\u2019. 2. Respond Quickly A customer has already taken the time to send an enquiry, at fivesquid.com our rule of thumb is \u2018don\u2019t let an email stew for more than 3 hours\u2019. Even if you don\u2019t resolve the issue or enquiry instantly, introduce yourself and let them know you will be looking into certain areas and will get back to them with a follow up\/solution shortly. Response speed can also be greatly affected by the customer service software you use (see tip 4). 3. One Person Per Enquiry Get one person to deal with the whole customer enquiry. Customers need to feel like you have everything under control. If too many people are dealing with one enquiry, the customer will lose trust and get frustrated. This is also important for tracking purposes, if things go wrong, you can check back and see who the responsible person was. If the same customer contacts again, you can also check the history and see who the last person to look into their enquiry was. You have to also remember that customers have a lot more portals to contact customer service, from social media to emails. Let a customer clearly know who will be the main person looking after their enquiry so they don\u2019t have to go through five different portals saying the same thing to get their enquiry looked into. 4. Install a Ticket System Ticket systems not only save time but also let you keep on top of all customer enquiries coming through. With ticket systems like Zendesk, you can do customer enquiry profiling, which will ensure that your communication is always personalised, and up-to date.\u00a0 Here at fivesquid.com we track where the customer journey starts (whether it\u2019s social media, phone call or email) and ensure we check the information shared with us to avoid having to ask the customer to explain more than once. 5. Offer Language Options If you have a business that operates internationally, you might want to think about getting customer service representatives who speak the language where your business operates. If you get a customer service enquiry from Germany, being able to respond in German will grow brand trust and will show customers you are an international company that caters to different customer needs. Ian Webber, Customer Service Director at Animal Friends 1. Listening Obvious I know, but people often get confused that \u2018hearing\u2019 what the customer says equates to \u2018listening\u2019. To deliver a great service, you really need to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,217],"tags":[114,93],"class_list":["post-1833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-growth","category-expert-tips","tag-customer-service","tag-tips-from-the-experts-2"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Dane](\"http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/10523222_10152389140971222_7168588973966447954_o-300x224.jpg\")
1. Assign Responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\nTerry Koutsios, Founder & Operations Director at FiveSquid<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n
\n![\"Terry](\"http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/EM_3013-300x200.jpeg\")
1. Sound Personal <\/strong><\/p>\nIan Webber, Customer Service Director at Animal Friends
![\"Ian](\"http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Ian-200x300.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/h2>\nAlistair Smith, Managing Director at Magic Thermodynamic Box Company<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n
![\"Alistair](\"http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Alistair-Smit-CEO-Magic-Thermodynamic-Box-Co-300x206.jpeg\")
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