How To Improve Customer Service with Technology – Software Buddy
A challenge that many business owners face is how they can improve customer service whilst maintaining the idea that ‘the customer is always right.’
This is especially true for trades and services businesses where word of mouth referrals and recommendations are key to bringing in new business. For plumbers. electricians, decorators etc. it is essential to ensure that their customers are completely satisfied.
Your reputation management then becomes much easier, with happy customers spreading the word for you as well as providing repeat business.
On the other hand. if a customer isn’t happy with the service you provided, they’re not likely to invite their friends and family to use your services.
It is therefore crucial to get your customer service absolutely spot-on.
Getting Back To Basics on How to Improve Customer Service
To be able to grow your trades business, improving customer service should be your top priority.
Good customer service means that you can facilitate total convenience for your customers, and you can even use technology to automate this. Helping you to make your customer services seamless and easy to use.
By using technology for your customer services, you can also keep it looking fresh, up-to-date and accommodating. Here’s how:
Set Up Different Communication Platforms
One key way you can make things easier for your customers (and your workforce too) is to offer as many different ways of communicating as possible.
This then gives your customers the choice of which option works best for them. Including:
- Talking on the phone
- Arranging a face to face meeting
- Text Messaging or WhatsApp
- Chatting on Social Media
- Zoom or Skype video calls
- Live chats
Of course, your business doesn’t have to offer all of these. Yet by leveraging technology to offer as many different communication methods as possible, you’re making your customer’s life easier from their very first interaction with your trades business.
Enhance Your Communication
A problem with having so many channels of communication open is that it’s hard to keep track of what was said, to whom and on what platform.
The last thing you want is for a customer to reach out to your business by phone after texting an employee about a quote, only to have to explain everything again to another employee because the interactions weren’t logged.
Technology allows you to log every communication that any member of your team has with a client, so nothing slips under the radar.
When your system is synced up with the cloud, your customer records are updated in real-time, so every staff member will be up to speed on the latest interactions.
This enhanced level of communication makes you look more professional and is sure to impress your customers and increase your chances of getting a referral.
Understand The Importance Of Data
In a single day, business technology can create and store tons of data. Your trades business can use this data to enhance and improve customer service.
Data can help you to:
- Better understand the customer journey. Not only will this help with your marketing, but it will also help you improve their experiences with your company. Check out how your customers are using your website, see what your customers are looking at before and after they visit your site and loads more important trends.
- Improve your internal processes. Analysing the data you collect can help you audit your workflows and check that they’re delivering great customer experience.
- Understand your target audience. Using data to build a clearer picture of your target audience means you’re better able to cater to them and their needs.
These are just a few ways that you can use to interpret and learn from your data to gain a competitive edge. So don’t let it all go waste.
Benefit From Better Organisation
Think about how stressful it is when you’re hunting for an invoice or an order form in a sea of documents at your office or on a client’s premises, and you just can’t lay your hand on the information you need.
It’s the same for your customers!
Not everyone has a perfect filing system at home and there are loads of ways that documents can get lost or damaged.
With the right technology in place, worrying about paper documents or searching through files becomes a thing of the past.
Why?
It’s all stored digitally. So whether they’re signing an initial contract for a job or looking over the final invoice, all communication can be accessed in an instant.
Fast Payment, Varied Options
Mobile technology makes it possible for your business to collect payments in a multitude of ways. This means that your customers can choose the one that’s most convenient for them.
When paying the final invoice for a large project, your customers are going to want to choose the fastest and more secure way to transfer the money from A to B, and a lot of us don’t carry around cash anymore. You can use technology to give them that option!
Getting on board with the latest payment technology not only makes things simpler for your business, but it also speeds things up for customers – how’s that for improving customer service.
Keeping Clients Informed
In the past, when you would hire a tradesman, they would come to your house to do the work and you had to hope that the final result was up to your expectations.
However, times have changed and now its easy for customers to be informed at every step of the way.
Job management technology now allows you to keep your customers up-to-date with everything that’s going on in their project.
You can upload photos and videos of the site and invite clients to view them as well as showing them what tools and resources you’ve ordered to complete the task.
Improve customer service by offering total transparency, which is what many clients desire of a contractor.
Want to learn more about how technology can enhance your trades business’ customer service? Download our report: ‘How To Grow Your Trades Business With Less Hassle and BIGGER Profits’.
You’ll also gain access to FREE video training that will help you and your entire team work smarter, not harder. Get your copy today!