How to Achieve Customer Service Excellence: 5 Tips That Always Work

# How to Achieve Customer Service Excellence: 5 Tips That Always Work <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiN2ASf63-kdtqlAc6-VMx6Ur4c42xU38W6Ev0KwrWksbbiV1Zn5U1IldIDcy1r9z9VcWBrMUUdL5P8yXJP0y79XLSz_rjRz_trhqH2HG9S4qu1-5d3Vdtm_JpX8vJ9TBgMf52MYxlE8cdssTM8xWLtzFtHmzOU6N3gmLip7GoNu5aB4DJf4wNLNM8ifg=s663" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="663" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiN2ASf63-kdtqlAc6-VMx6Ur4c42xU38W6Ev0KwrWksbbiV1Zn5U1IldIDcy1r9z9VcWBrMUUdL5P8yXJP0y79XLSz_rjRz_trhqH2HG9S4qu1-5d3Vdtm_JpX8vJ9TBgMf52MYxlE8cdssTM8xWLtzFtHmzOU6N3gmLip7GoNu5aB4DJf4wNLNM8ifg=w543-h349" width="543" /></a></div> While building a successful business, every aspect calls for attention. Everything is essential, including your product, tech, design, distribution, marketing, sales, manufacturing, and a myriad of other resources. From that pile, why prioritize customer experience? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The answer is simple: happy customers lead to more money, growth, and sustainability. But, you know this already, don’t you? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am not here to convince you why customer service is essential. I am here to help you prioritize it strategically. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is precisely what we’ll be talking about for the next few minutes. This article will revolve around the know-hows of customer service excellence and how to achieve it. Here’s a quick rundown: <h2 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 19pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customer Service Excellence Can Make or Break Your Brand</h2> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customer support is where your brand comes to life. Your frontline teams and their interactions with customers make the biggest impression. Plus, it shouldn’t be surprising to know that today’s consumers (specifically social media users) have grown accustomed to getting what they want. Their expectations have risen immensely. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="38" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eYUZIvvkiWLZ_T6vw8IYJyMU8sisWYEhjrEn-xnrNoGFZ6GKsTKmAKVy9-lgQNFBWxPNSIR_zv4wNtTxQyT3_jSnqpBZiuQ2Jb_EF_hkxIkZW0VIFh13aD_KhSlxtmbeV-fIE2bL" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="42" /> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #707070; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a recent poll, 82% of CEOs reported that customer expectations were “somewhat” or “much” higher than they were three years ago. <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/in/products/service-cloud/what-is-customer-service/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202020; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Salesforce Survey</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202020; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="37" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/8r9rI2MlDGVb314m1cNQVfA0UyoH4NRhUbCevZpcdPPw8cckj8-71PKNeUQxLqquU5gXkYiZSnhDneyZb4amKnCPCvC_9gHwj95lGXUJAlaLXf3_66ZMgyvNciTMiXCZbZrrsTqb" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="44" />   <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The frustration rates in today’s customers are much higher, and they’re quick to share negative experiences online. Through social media, customers can reach a large audience very quickly. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You cannot improve sales without continuously striving to redefine your standards of customer service excellence. Most customers stop doing business with a brand due to one bad experience. Customers sign up for a product or service, but a good customer experience is what makes them stay. Hence, it has become crucial to support customers on every channel from day one and establish a customer service excellence trademark. <h2 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 19pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefits of an Excellent Customer Support Strategy</h2> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customer support experience is a vital cog for businesses of the 21st century. So much so that companies with bad customer service receive a lot of bad press. Research reveals that in the U.S, businesses lose around <a href="https://www.vonage.co.uk/resources/articles/the-62-billion-customer-service-scared-away-infographic/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">$62</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> billion each year due to bad customer experiences. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your customer support defines your company’s long-term success. Excellent customer service leads to customer loyalty, higher revenue, and increased retention. It is not merely enough to attain acceptable support; companies must strive to excel! Organizations need to focus on becoming more customer-oriented. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Benefits of Customer Service Excellence" height="348" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/349WLe1zKIGcFkSxXoNdE3HiObVszdZkufbyn5bHa7YM6fkHSB4KJd4vCI16jIpg0VfsfyIqeHGi9Umb69fm5407qUkaKJ8ozJ8OjSqiijtzVxKmYtWlrHiyn5xd-9bYtsBXJtPW" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /> <a href="https://www.groovehq.com/customer-service-statistics" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefits of Customer Service Excellence</a> <h2 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 19pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customer Service Excellence Meaning</h2> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zappos built a <a href="https://www.zappos.com/about/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">billion-dollar</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> empire on ways to deliver excellent customer service. Customer service excellence is one of their company values. Their tagline goes: “Our purpose is simple: to live and deliver WOW.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Providing good customer service can differ from one business to another. What is considered good service? Is it even possible to define excellence? Well, when you’re talking about service, you can! There’s an acceptable line difference between simply providing service and customer service excellence! <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customer service excellence is when you have a personalized, respectful, and smooth approach. Excellent customer service helps you provide customers with all the assistance and have a perfect customer experience. This approach is not only limited to post-sales support; it also needs to be applied before and during the purchase. <h6 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: -8pt 0pt 30pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DeskXpand's Customer Support Tool</h6> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DeskXpand is an all-in-one customer support platform that helps you balance everything your customers need to be happy. <a href="https://www.deskxpand.com/pricing/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">START YOUR FREE TRIAL</a> <h2 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 19pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Key Ingredients For Customer Service Excellence</h2> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before discussing the hows, let’s first look at the three key ingredients of customer service excellence. <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Customer Convenience</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Customer Convenience" height="200" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/L9FLnU0na3amHLtr_Z8i5EIYEu4EOscJvKrW9PI3w_e9VqqtUaFws_s3KF1P9K-DNmoeAbJLPiZneX5WWwcuaD9Nt1T7NZgaXS64ZM4D2yf7EHfGNKqLUldf8WJymuwF191oUEep" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customers should and must get service at their convenient time, through a convenient channel of their choice. Ensure that you are available on all modes of communication, including chat, messages, calls, social media, etc. <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Speed</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most users expect a response in less than 24hrs. For live chat, it is less than 1.5 mins, and for the phone, 3 minutes is considered good (though rare). <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="First Time Response Benchmark" height="200" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/6Q0tWzgNmejKQkegb7sbLaRW8-B7ef2TgTnuQ5FSFtvZBL_fRoCisfGj2MKrwbmLZjLjnQvqsoB9lb6FM2FQ8qWS-zNWUOL_K80_cO6Ot4bygy6USYXzDAUK5nQMZi4eyVgM1z7G" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /> <a href="https://www.klipfolio.com/metrics/support/first-response-time" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First Time Response Benchmark</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Never keep your customers waiting. Customers want a quick response, no matter how complex their queries are. Make sure you have the quickest first-time response. <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Proactive Response</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Importance of Proactive Response" height="153" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1kn7arQXVXEQ8U52qPcHIe_chevyZPq7q9ONpJGWn82evSdobgN6I7gTXIyVYulZr8IN2ZzLTjsHre6uDyjjfYMtDR-BI_tgzPhzDhEf706Jeql8w0j0C4cYC6fz1kYWT_FbZN0v" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /> <a href="https://www.netomi.com/customer-service-statistics" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Importance of Proactive Response</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you take the initiative of contacting a customer when a problem arises, you are prioritizing the issue at hand. It also shows that you are acting with urgency and understanding. This type of vigilance is what separates excellent customer service from the rest. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go the extra mile to reach customer service excellence. This is when you have ticked all the boxes. <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Empathy</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Customer Empathy Phrases" height="236" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ZD6FNCrWauV4WsnnT1AxkzguD47i1n-XrPn2GG611iJY9pgq6Lyz18Z_N6cZgTngXLQvp4rBcH3CHUBE1sw6FIdC5J8F-NOHSg77DgGlmfR8KHvCtPbIo6BqpG9jbpC1dBTTdKR1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="579" /> <a href="https://justcall.io/blog/win-customers-empathy-statements.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customer Empathy Phrases</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A company cannot be successful with an apathetic culture. With customer empathy, you can gain a competitive advantage. Ask your agents to put themselves in the shoes of the customers when working on queries. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/technology/05nocera.html?_r=2emc=th&oref=slogin&" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Example:</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An Amazon customer ordered a PlayStation for his son. When the package was delivered, the customer wasn’t home, and so a neighbor had signed for the delivery package, who then left the package outside the customer’s door. Unfortunately, it disappeared. Well, Amazon was not to blame for this mistake. But they were quick to resolve this. They sent a new PlayStation in time for Christmas without charging the customer for extra shipping. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is an excellent example of customer empathy. Rather than sticking to their refund policy, they chose to do good. And that is what matters! <h2 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 19pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to Achieve Customer Service Excellence: 5 Step Approach</h2> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="5 Step Approach" height="291" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/uvryUGAxhr5G175Vp9c5tkXsvUDzSDJY_nEOLacKgFF8KygZLrgtBql29NHyLWa0jiM7GKBwHnQ8URnbnctF5pzLBTauKsoOmtfBRAt-2_DnrgGGUpRfR2AcX52XZnteYm4ntZGN" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="580" /> <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 1: Define What Customer Service Excellence Means to Your Brand</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="37" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/zqELzzXY21v-EgbGbxf_qi-PNXV7_eGJ9g4hjVbJRE1tUmBw5MhqoDYcN6_2dW36ODTq5WwNeBYwtJ4MPDUZCNTY5wIIEFQZe89PDfOLcRAhojM74l_HyYkC5binywts0oJzRsXy" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="41" /> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #707070; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We don’t want to push our ideas on to customers; we simply want to make what they want. <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-service-quotes" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202020; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Laura Ashley</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202020; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="37" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_FZfZN7Byc3q5KiJ581szeUYlVdQ21xJQrC2Jj_FfYk7WM-kq6qQNjpd4fJMQDv0CYQzyU0BKpF2bYXUf8TPSR4W9R0jjjKR3ReK5cKSSSuQg6pYqmgXlSl358pgsMUqVkVNzIS-" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="41" />   <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no one definition of excellent customer service. Your idea of excellent customer service may differ from that of your competitors. You just have to standardize what it means for your brand. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Excellent customer service consists of: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Meeting customer’s expectations <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Personalizing to your customers’ needs <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Solving customer problems and responding fast <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Recognizing when the customer needs help <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Using tech like chatbots to find out what customers want <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Customer empathy and showing a positive attitude <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Step 2: Analyze and Improve</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use data to back up and analyze the performance of your team. You need to continuously plug the gaps in your support process and keep improving your customer experience. You will need many reporting and analytics tools at your disposal to paint a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you truly analyze your customer support, you’ll find multiple loopholes and places where you failed to deliver. Following pointers shall help you analyze your support and improve. <h4 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 8pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I. Can your customers reach you easily?</h4> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the most critical part of analyzing your existing customer service. Find out if your customers can reach you when they need it or not. Make sure that your channels are working fine and that you don’t miss even a single customer query. <h4 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 8pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">II. Is your team clear with your vision of customer service excellence?</h4> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Make your support reps understand your idea of customer service excellence and work collectively to achieve it. <h4 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 8pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">III. What are the loopholes in your existing support?</h4> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Find out the loopholes in your existing support. You can do this by sending a customer survey. Let them give honest feedback and share their pain points. Maybe then you can actively work on solving it. <h4 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 8pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">IV. Fix your mistakes</h4> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not taking responsibility for your mistakes is a sure-fire way of getting a bad reputation. Transparency is crucial and always guarantees high-quality output. <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 3: Upgrade to the Latest Tech</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you want to serve a personalized experience, you’ll need more than just your legacy tools. Firstly, you’ll need an omnichannel tech that lets you manage every channel from a single interface. This will ensure that your customers reach you through their preferred channels. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would help if you also had self-service tools at your disposal. Customers don’t always want to talk to an agent to get their problems solved. <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/01/kick-ass-customer-service" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">81%</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of customers attempt to take care of matters before reaching out to a customer service executive. Hence, your helpdesk or customer service tool must provide self-help features. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ll also need advanced ticketing features like automated ticket registration, ticket assignment, ticket conversion, SLAs, collision detection, email templates, etc. It is precisely where the versatility of DeskXpand helpdesk comes into the picture. DeskXpand is <a href="https://www.deskxpand.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">helpdesk software</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that allows you to communicate with your customers in real-time through their preferred medium. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ll be glad to know that DeskXpand instantly converts your received emails into support tickets, but that’s not all. DeskXpand opens up additional avenues of communication through customers’ favorite social media channels. That’s right! Your team will even be able to field direct message inquiries from multiple channels. <a href="https://www.deskxpand.com/pricing/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW</a> <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 4: Practice Creative Problem Solving</h3> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Around <a href="http://media.stellaservice.com/public/pdf/Customer_Experience_Impact_North_America.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">80%</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of customers churn because of a single bad customer experience. That is why you must thrive on solving problems for your customers and make it a central part of your support workflow. And there will always be problems that need solving. <a href="https://consumerist.com/2011/05/19/zappos-saves-best-man-from-going-barefoot-at-wedding/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Legendary Example of Zappos:</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zappos once sent free shoes to a best man the night before the wedding. This was after his order was sent to the wrong location due to the mistake of the delivery company. This is precisely what I think exemplified customer service is. They won a customer for life, and the story won the hearts and pockets of millions of people. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Always seek to solve customer problems creatively and in a manner that makes them feel valued. Nothing can be more personalized than this. Meet their needs in ways that go above and beyond their imaginations and expectations. <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step 5: Ensure Quick and Personalized Response</h3> <a href="https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/122502/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #644fe0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">40%</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of customers say they want more personalized and human service. Customers always want to feel like more than just a ticket number or a target number. They get furious when they are not being treated as a person and being batted like a tennis ball to different people. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Similarly, customers want to interact with a person and not a robot. It is part of the reason why many businesses send gifts to their customers on their birthdays. It is not possible to do this for everyone, but companies must go off script and serve a personal touch whenever they can. <h2 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 19pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final Step: Work With Experts</h2> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An amazing experience can turn a satisfied customer into a brand advocate and promoter. Delivering service excellence has a significant role in fuelling your company’s flywheel and generating positive reviews and retention. All these things will matter to the company’s bottom line. This perspective will allow you to keep the company’s goals in mind as you’ll put customers first. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Businesses must be built around how to deliver excellent customer service. It is easy to forget the importance of customer service excellence when building your brand’s web presence and marketing your website. I hope the above five steps will help you provide truly excellent customer service. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The easiest way to excel in customer service is to drop your legacy helpdesk tools and adopt technology to serve your customers better. And with DeskXpand, it is easy to get up and running in no time. When a buzz started to develop around customer service excellence some years ago, our experts came up with a long-term and feature-rich solution. With DeskXpand, you can: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Offer personable services and personalized experience <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Manage your customer from a single interface <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Analyze your support and generate reports easily <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Manage all the ticketing information through integrated third-party tools <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Provide support on communication channels of your choice <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #252525; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* It is time to ditch your legacy helpdesk tools. Try DeskXpand now! We are an ISO27001 certified helpdesk development company trusted by users worldwide for 14+ years now. <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: -19pt 0pt 8pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Article is Originally Published On:</h3> <a href="https://www.deskxpand.com/blog/customer-service-excellence/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.deskxpand.com/blog/customer-service-excellence/</a> <h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: -4pt 0pt 8pt 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Social Links:</h3> <div style="text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/deskXpand" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="47" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EtBkB8zA_Ui0YjwgKl1yMRPctABknIg-C84xzV4Li5QQyq4yTyd_6uKsv-BcQmC2DTZ4WqaYseBAzAFZSiF0pO855RkqUvGxz2cSwGFpFFcet-VPkTLuaz6Iw6OVg5-ZLsXpCVvS" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="47" /></a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/deskxpand/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="46" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/gYfyDC-fK8i2E8mv-rbIS261xNYZxHT04-4JY0dLxPVpbYo0sfEpjYzClw2T68rkIjDcya3r9AaYYFPoscOvjYV3VSvfzliYrCsU0tOh_vSdtOatUrJf5VaumicIOJWsPqvrdPpZ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="46" /></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DeskXpand" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="46" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DPuqubQ_1_YGY090j0IIaI7PMbna4zpHb2oMFnkF0nM3pgl33HoHWXAQ5TI8P40o2bS_ED1omB3x8ZZ6pP7LRkfq3YZvzbAzjPMsZiNyO7Iqt4JCRlcjFmcqRUfraYbddo09sIIz" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="46" /></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC69lcnj_OXK84xENeeN8svg" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="46" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wnrzYTFVF6lv7wtPNPw_4Ziup3Iq-C4DyH489MQHpq0jHfQbxQM0VS2Yods7b8yAHcdrRxaU3N6NhbRpnkiOIrXjVzEIpTFGs092O5Rvnb-PGBxKrWLzGtcWeN2iJt29oRyz9RVt" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="46" /></a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/deskxpand/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="46" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1MhXR4ThFVe63tC_2tbCN6bf3dJ8v_wIyvLiG0uMBPINtwIu_TEUNR3kkplvvrk1AlZZPBU29LF6mhEzqYsZGRmcTBxX_m3rkuP_2ZKq20rwTmJPWu9edx5QWKRBj5X2zYDyqPv3" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="46" /></a></div>