Often there seems to be a breakdown between what companies think their customers want versus what their customers really want. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t.

Current customers want more than help with their problems… they want to know what you can do for them on a regular basis. They want to be appreciated and for you to value their business. Simply fixing issues is not enough. Customers want a relationship with the companies they do business with and want to be viewed as a partner, not a customer.

The primary function of any company is to fulfill a client’s need, and some believe that just fulfilling orders is enough. But processing the order is no longer impressive to the customer as it is part of what they paid for. Making simple changes such as referring to the customer by name and making sure your staff speaks with a friendly tone can go a long way in building a relationship with your customer. Plus, nowadays, customer service needs to be exceptional, I mean top-notch! Your entire staff needs to have access to all the information possible about the client, and they need to know what they can and can’t do for that individual to meet their needs.

Let’s face it, no one likes being on a call where you get scripted answers and transferred from person to person. We’ve all experienced the dreaded “phone tree”, it’s extremely frustrating! Clients like to deal with one or two people and have the confidence that their need will be met during that conversation. More importantly, it’s also vital that your team speak with genuine concern. This validates the customers feeling and is very much appreciated. And last by not least making sure you address the customers need in a timely and efficient manner is essential to a customer have a positive experience. Knowing that a customer cares goes a long way in customer loyalty.

Your customer service can make or break you! A recent consumer poll shows that 92% of customers would stop using a company or service after three (3) or fewer poor experiences. And 26% of those would stop after one (1) bad experience. So if your company isn’t practicing good customer service, your future may start to look very gloomy. This is because people don’t always compare companies, they judge you off of the best customer experience they have had no matter the industry.

So how do customers want to be treated? The same way you do, courteously, kindly, effectively and efficiently. They wanted to be treated like they are the most important thing to you. You may feel that customers can be unreasonable but on the whole customers are very reasonable and understand what type of service a company such as yours can provide. They expect that you will understand what they need and how it applies to your service and that you will do all you can to provide them with it.

And when they do have a problem, they want to say to one person only. People don’t like to have to repeat themselves over and over again to multiple people… this goes back to only having one or two contacts as they don’t want to have to explain their concerns to multiple individuals, they want it addressed the first time. To help accomplish this at your company, make sure your team is on the same page so that no matter who the client speaks to they are going to get a clear and consistent response. 

Overall, customers don’t want to be treated like a number, they want their experience to be personalized where they are treated as an individual and to have their concern addressed quickly. And if your company can deliver both speed and personalization, you have a winning combination!

If you would like to learn about ways you can provide exceptional customer service, watch our training course, How Customers Want to be Treated.  Not a P1 Learning subscriber? No problem! You can register for free demo and we’d be happy to help create a customized learning platform that will help you and your employees learn and grow for years to come!

Oh, and if you’re already a P1 Learning customer, thank you! We’d love to connect to see how we can continue to cater to your changing needs and give you a bit of a training platform refresher.