Customer Service: Why it could make or break your brand
Tags: Customer Service, Brands, Customer Loyalty

Photo by Christiann Koepke on Unsplash

It might just be a two letter word, but it is perhaps one of the most important aspects of any company that specializes in service delivery. Customer service can never be underrated or overemphasized, whether you are a huge organisation or a lady who sells peanuts by the roadside, you are providing a service to the public and as such you want your customers to return.

Having worked in a customer service domain for well over a decade, I am very particular about service and how it should be rendered and delivered — from the first contact or interaction with a customer, be it telephonically or face to face, to the point where you say ‘good-bye’ and ‘have a nice day’. Those are the moments that could either make or break your brand image, mission and values.

Every organisation, big or small, want their customers to keep coming back, and how you interact with them and treat them throughout the duration of the interaction — before, during and after is what would guarantee that.

Customers who have received appalling service from a company/service provider are the fastest spreaders of “bad service”. Let us face it, if you received a good service from a service provider, you would most likely tell maybe 5 to 10 people max because you are still happy at that moment.

If you have however, received a “bad service” from a service provider, you will go on for days, you will name and shame, you will tell everyone and anyone who cares to listen, you would even go as far as putting it out there on every social media platform there is, where it is most likely to reach more people. And that, my friend, is one of the fastest ways to destroy your brand. Nobody wants a bad service, no matter how much or little you are invested in a company — everyone deserves to be treated with decency, respect and appreciation.

Your front line staff are the representation of the company and as such they need to be constantly trained to meet the needs of your customers, this cannot be over exaggerated. In my experience in dealing with customers, a smile is perhaps the single most important and effortless gesture in dealing with a customer, it lays the foundation and sets the tone for the interaction you are about to have with that customer.

The thing about a smile is that you can tell when one is smiling telephonically (call center agents). Every other quality like empathy, listening skills, attentiveness etc. comes second to that even though equally important. With customer facing agents, your facial disposition and body language speaks volumes. I would quicker interact with or do business with someone with a smile than a frown, even if I have no idea if you would be able to help me or not.

The truth is, there are a whole lot of benefits to a company that provides good customer service. It keeps the doors of referrals open, because happy customers will keep referring and defending your brand, it builds customer loyalty, it gives your company a competitive advantage over the rest, it opens doors for more revenue and business initiatives and much more.

Building a solid customer service team in any organisation will definitely take your business to the next level and keep you in the game for longer.