The Art of B2C Customer Service

From a psychological point of view, customers are individuals; each one has his/her own independent character with its needs that have emerged according to the lifestyle and the surrounding circumstances. And, with regard to the field of customer service, each customer looks for a service or product that meets his/her own demands and inspires the feeling of satisfaction as a result. More importantly, there are some factors that affect their purchase choices and decisions, such as budget, time limit, location, etc. Globally, there are various studies that have tackled the topic of business-to-customer (b2c) customer service due to its serious importance in transforming the whole business positively or devastating it collaterally.

Strategies of Delivering Optimum B2C Customer Service

1- Categorizing the Prospects

 All businesses of various sizes and fields have a database of prospective customers who might have called once before or paid a visit but with no purchase decision made yet. So, customer service representatives are supposed to follow up on their feedback and decisions, and according to the follow-up calls, leads are expected to be shortlisted in order to identify the most qualified ones who deserve more attention and care.

2- Responding Swiftly

 One of the best strategies that any customer service staff should adopt is the quick responses policy. Logically, customers do respect the service representatives when they act as swiftly as possible in all the aspects of service, such as responding to calls, answering questions, solving problems, compensating angry customers, etc. According to the recent reports, Harvard researchers have understated that having to complain more than once and discussing their complaints with a series of customer service representatives complicate the issue and intensifies frustration.

3- Passing on Knowledge

Before the official recruitment of customer service agents, they should receive training in how to attain the skills required for such a position and the tools needed to please customers and reduce their negative feelings toward the business. Certainly, if all agents work in harmony and on the same level of integrity and professionalism, all customers will feel satisfied to the max. In terms of collaboration and integration, some companies ask experienced agents to whisper solutions or answers to fresh hires that are dealing with customers over the phone.

4- Recognizing Leads’ Motivators

Businesses can acquire leads by putting on their way dazzling motivators. Those stimulating stuff could be shaped in different forms, such as special offers, precious gifts or free coupons. Moreover, businesses should also motivate their current customers by notifying them of special discounts that award their loyalty.

5- Apologizing in Person

Sometimes the apology is a must when business promises are not kept, or fatal mistakes happen either intentionally or accidentally. It is highly recommended to apologize to the frustrated customer face-to-face for expressing regret, which most probably makes up for the mistake that has been made and bridges the gap between customers and reps.

Skills That A B2C Customer Service Representative Should Own:

Undoubtedly, the job of a customer service agent is not a piece of cake although stereotypes state an opposite view. Internationally, this job demands to own an excellent command of certain skills that eventually establish a successful customer service environment which is free of complaints or inconvenience. Let’s discuss these skills further:

• Endurance

The characteristic of being patient is on the top of the list. Patience will help bear the negative feelings expressed by frustrated customers who might be really fed up with a bad service or an accidental mistake. Significantly, patience helps absorb the customer’s pessimistic emotion and leads to the in-depth understanding of the problem causes.

• Awareness

 Customer service agents are expected to understand the company’s points of strengths. This will make them capable of representing the company positively and defending its reputation against negative unfair claims. Furthermore, this deep understanding will enable agents to solve customers’ problems. 

• Eloquence

Minor changes in the way of conversation scale up the positive language of a customer service representative which gradually eases any tension expressed by disappointed customers. Besides, language is considered a tool of persuasion and convincing that can transfer customers from the stage of being interested in the product or service to the stage of being involved.

• Acting

 Unfortunately, customer service reps come across lots of people who are difficult to control or calm down. Intelligently enough, reps should acquire acting skills that help them keep their faces smiley and their cool even with those grumpy customers.

• Time Management

Witty agents should not waste the time of their customers if they really do not know the solution to their problems. If an agent is hindered to give a customer a hand, he/she should confidently transfer that case to another agent who might be more experienced. Therefore, this will save the time of both the rep and the customer, and it will avoid causing the customer more inconvenience.

• Reading Customers

Customer service agent should be witty enough to read the customer’s mind, and this sounds really hard when communication channels lack the spoken language or facial expressions. Successfully, this skill is a key to avoiding misreading or misunderstanding which trigger confusion and miscommunication on both sides of a customer and an agent.

• Handling Surprises

Any successful company provides its representatives with guidelines that help them handle any difficulty and contain the irritated customers. However, some unexpected problems take place, and they are not covered by the company’s policy, so the agents are supposed to think on their feet to come up with his/her own guidelines in that type of situations.

• Closing Capability

The ability of a rep to close with a customer refers to ending the discussion with a quite vivid feeling of satisfaction overwhelming the customer. This reflects three important positive aspects in the customer service: care, patience, and respect.

In conclusion, the quality of customer service is a major element that can make a business soar to high levels of success. However, with the deterioration of its quality, it will inevitably become a train-wreck. Undeniably, the existence of a successful customer service will never let prospects slip away.