Job Security Tips for Customer Service Professionals
If you consistently make your customers happy they'll help you have more job security by staying with you..
Challenging economic times can be scary. Every day we
hear news about lay-offs, company closings, mortgage foreclosures and more.
But no matter what's going on around us, we all have the ability to make our
lives less stressful and more secure. An excellent way to do this is to
increase our own job security. (It's not hard to do.)
Remember, in tough times it's even more important for companies to make
their customers happy, so they keep coming back.
That's the foundation of building your own job security. Every smart manager
knows one of the keys to a profitable and growing business is to have
employees who keep customers coming back. You can be that person!
Here's a five-step system to make it happen:
1. Serve your customers.
Serving your customers means putting them first. It means helping them get
what they want. Remember, your customers come to you to accomplish something
they want or to avoid something they don't want They believe you can help
them. (Otherwise they would have gone somewhere else.) They have chosen you!
Honor their choice by doing everything within your ability to help them.
This means focusing your attention and efforts on discovering what they want
and helping them get it. You put their interests and desires first. It means
your sole motivation is helping them get what they came for.
2. Connect with your customers.
Connecting with your customers means getting to know them as a person. You
develop a relationship with them. Of course you keep it professional and in
the context of your business. But it's okay to learn about them as you help
them. In fact, the better you get to know them, the better you can help
them.
As you develop a relationship with them, you build trust in each other. They
trust your ability and motivations. You trust what they tell you. This helps
you help them. It improves communications.
This does not have to take long. Sometimes a "social chemistry" can develop
within minutes. It shouldn't be phony or manipulative. It needs to happen
naturally. If you care about your customers, if you use your people skills,
if you ask pertinent questions, if you listen and really focus on helping
them, then you'll develop a great rapport with them quickly.
3. Have fun.
One of the biggest reasons customers don't return is they have no reason to.
Sure they might get what they want but they often get it with no
personality, no sparkle, no sizzle. Their experience is a dud. It's about as
exciting as cleaning your ears. There's nothing memorable about it. Or
worse, employees are crabby, grouchy or even angry and they show it. Yuk!
On the other hand, companies that enjoy tremendous customer loyalty offer
their customers something they can't get anywhere else: FUN. They provide
them an unexpected, positive experience. They have fun with them. The
employees enjoy their work and each other and their customers. It's not that
they goof off or waste time. They don't. But they find ways to bring fun and
joy into their work and they bring their customers along for the ride.
4. Be flexible.
With most things there is no one right answer. There is almost always more
than one way to accomplish something. But we don't always admit it. Too
often we focus on one way to do something. Maybe it's the only way we know.
Maybe it's the fastest, cheapest or easiest route to helping our customer.
But that doesn't make it the best.
Our goal is to help our customers get what they want, within our ability. So
we always need to look for alternatives. We need to be creative. We need to
think beyond the first solution that comes to mind when we're working with
our customers.
Being flexible means offering customers more than one solution. By offering
choices we're making it more likely they'll get what they want. There are
few things worse than being a customer and someone says "that's the only way
you can do it".
Being flexible also means being willing to try new things and go the extra
mile for customers. It means being a problem solver rather than an order
taker. Customers know the difference. (So do managers.)
5. Make them happy.
This is the most important thing you can do with your customers. If they are
happy with your service they will come back. They will help increase your
job security because they'll stick with you and your company. Note, this
does not mean you do anything and everything to make your customers happy.
You're always limited by the resources and policies of your company. But it
does mean you do everything within your ability to make them happy. Get
creative and look for ways to give your customer a great experience.
You want your customers to leave happy. That's your bottom line. Make that
happen and everything else will follow.
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