Customer Service is important in any business. It is always important to ensure, that your customers are happy with the way they are treated and with their product.
With our day to day roles, it can be quite easy to get used to certain ways of communicating with people. But, it is very important to be aware of the fact that everyone should be treated equally.
In this blog, it will give you some tips on;
- How to improve communication and customer service
- Why customer service is important?
- How to provide outstanding MOT customer service
- The benefits of having good customer service
- The consequences of having bad customer service
How to Improve Communication and Customer Service
To improve customer service, you must engage with clients in a way that creates satisfaction and faith to provide excellent MOT customer service.
It is important, that customers want to come back again and again.
If MOT Testers want to have satisfied clients and build a reputation for their VTS Centre, it is fundamental that they provide an outstanding service.
To ensure you have satisfied clients, you should respond immediately to them at any time.
When a client contacts customer service, it is the moment for your business to deliver excellent customer service. It doesn’t matter, if its a caller, emailer, texter, or a social media commentator, they are all entitled to receive excellent service and a prompt resolution of their issue. By doing this, this could win a lifelong customer. However, if they receive poor service, then you could lose them to a rival.
Based on many studies, they say that if people obtain excellent customer service, then they will tell two or three people about it. However, if people have a bad experience with the service, then they will tell ten to twelve other people about it. This is all because of word-of-mouth, online suggestions and referrals. These types of communications are frequently used in the MOT business. So, all businesses should try to consistently maintain good customer service levels.
Why Is Customer Service Important?
Customer service plays an important role in any business. Having excellent customer service builds a good reputation, not only for the business, but also the staff.
The saying is; the happier the customers are, the happier the bank balance is.
What does this mean? Well, if you have happy clients, you are pretty much guaranteed to get repeated customers. As well as, new customers, because they will recommend your business to others.
By having new and repeated customers, this will get your business thriving, which will ensure that the finances of the business will increase.
Many people, don’t realise the impact that customer service has on a business. In fact, this is one of the reasons why some businesses fail.
Don’t fall into the trap, of not understanding the importance of excellent customer service and communications.
If you haven’t thought much about they way your team handles the communication and customer service side of the business, maybe now is the time to do so.
How to Provide Outstanding MOT Customer Service
Here are some helpful hints, for providing outstanding MOT customer service.
1. Ensure that the customer receives the best possible customer service
The best way for this to be done, is to have a customer focused approach and effective engagement with them. Ensure that you listen to the customer and interact with them. This is, so that you know what they want, and then execute what they want.
2. Keep the client up to date
It is important to keep the client up to date on the progress and take steps to meet their needs and expectations. Communication is a vital tool. So by actively listening to the customer and allowing them to finish their sentence before interrupting, is important. Even if you have something valuable or pertinent to add. By keeping the client informed, reassures them that you are available.
There are many ways that this can be done. Like; using graphical representation or illustrations of MOT related information, to produce posters to give more information about the MOT process. It is important, to take into account, that not every customer has knowledge about the MOT Industry and don’t understand the MOT related vocabulary. It is your responsibility as a member of staff, to communicate effectively and ensure that the customer is informed about the MOT inspection progress.
3. Resolve any conflict
Like any business, you won’t be able to please all of your customers all of the time. However, it is critical to properly handle all concerns, address them, and reach a mutually agreeable solution. If this has been dealt with correctly, you could even end up with a stronger relationship with the client.
It is fundamental, that you take into consideration that the client may not be expecting a problem to occur, for example; failing its MOT. Having empathy with the customer is vital and helping them find a solution could eliminate them from making a complaint. Handling the issue professionally is a must and could stop them from getting angry and wanting to make a complaint.
Most customer complaints, are because of a mismatch, between what the customers anticipated and what you provided. In some instances, it is due to how the MOT Centre operates. By using these simple steps, you can minimise the amount of complaints and provide excellent customer service.
Five-Step Procedure to Resolve Customer Complaints
These five-step procedures, will help resolve customer complaints. And also, to figure out why, you have received a complaint from a client and how to resolve the issue, to ensure to keep the customers loyalty.
Step 1: Prepare yourself
To prepare yourself, you should maintain your composure and adopt a customer-service attitude. Set aside your feelings when they criticise you, or your job. The most crucial thing to remember, is that the client is frustrated and angry, and you must resolve the problem.
Step 2: Determine the type of client you’re dealing with
Pay attention to the customers posture and body language. Try and put distracting ideas aside and where necessary, relocate to a distraction-free location. It is important, to not mentally prepare your argument with them.
Step 3: Quickly respond to the client
When it comes to unhappy customers, a quick reaction becomes a requirement. It is essential to settle complaints, as quickly and as feasible as possible. Depending on the type of customer you have, some may be happy to wait a day for an answer. Whereas, other customers that are high rated want an answer straight away. It is vital, that you adapt to each client in the best way you can, depending on their behaviour.
Step 4: Offer a solution and confirm that the issue has been resolved
It’s critical to check that the solution you suggest can be done. Otherwise, this will cause more problems down the line. You must find a solution to the problem, once you’ve discovered the underlying cause of the customer’s complaint.
Step 5: Make a note of the complaint so you can keep track of patterns
If you’ve only had one single complaint from one client, about one issue in the past ten years, it’s possible that the problem isn’t worth addressing. However, if you have received several complaints from clients, who have all had the same issue, then it means you’re starting to build a pattern. Which means, that this needs to be addressed immediately.
The Benefits
So what are the benefits of having good customer service?
Well, there are many benefits of providing brilliant customer service.
Here are some of the benefits;
- Repeated clients
- Happy and content clients
- Gain new clients because of good word of mouth
- Get a good business reputation
- Increase in your business trade
- Increase in finances
- Happy workforce
- Reduces the risk of the business closing
- Staff turnover reduces
- Reduces the risk of loosing to rivals
The Consequences
You may think, that there can’t be many consequences of having bad customer service. Well, you will be surprised. Appalling customer service can have a huge impact on your business.
Here are some of the consequences that may arise;
- Loose customers
- Reduction in new clients
- Bad reputation
- Bad reviews
- Decrease in Revenue
- Higher risk of the business failing
- Higher staff turnover
- Unhappy workforce
- Unhappy clients
Conclusion
To sum up, I’m sure you will agree, that excellent customer service has a huge impact on your business. As you can see, there are many advantages and disadvantages of customer service. By following these simple tips and steps, you can gain a lot. Not only by having happy clients and employees, but growing your business financially and reputationally. So, if you haven’t thought about the impact until now, now is the time to put some plans in place. Maybe by; team meetings, keeping records of complaints or even customer service training.
For more articles like this; What are the responsibilities of an MOT Tester working in a garage
