Be your customers biggest fan
Before your customers become your biggest fan, you need to be theirs. The people who support your business are the ones that are pushing your business forward. These are the people who are making your dreams of running a business become a reality.
Taking your customers for granted is probably the worst thing you can do in your business. It’s time to vamp up your customer service with these 5 tips.
1. Boost Soft Skills
Soft skills are traits that are specifically related to your personality. A few examples are your communication skills, problem-solving, flexibility and personal drive.
When applying this to stellar customer service, practicing effective communication and problem solving will help you provide your customers with the best experience possible.
How to apply to your Spirit Box and SBE:
Effective communication will limit misunderstandings with your customers and even your team. Communication is necessary for all areas of your SBE to keep things running smoothly.
In business, sometimes problems arise and it’s nothing to freak out about. If the Spirit Box machine is having an issue or you are having a technical issue at your store, remember it can be solved. If a customer is mad, it can be solved. Be flexible, calm and make sure that your customer always sees that you are working to address the issue and knows the plan of action.
2. Ask for Customer Feedback
Always strive to do better and to improve how you do things. The best way to figure out how you can do better? Ask your customers! Asking for feedback not only helps your company improve, but it also shows your customers that you care about their experience and want to do better for them.
Send out an anonymous survey to your customers to get honest feedback. Provide an incentive for them to complete the survey by offering a product giveaway or discount.
How to apply to your Spirit Box and SBE:
Consider sending out a survey to your student body and faculty to gain their feedback on your service and what you offer. Maybe you are wanting product ideas for your Spirit Box or school store, attach a note to your products asking students and faculty to take a product survey on products they are enjoying or wanting to see more of.
3. Learn from Bad Reviews
When a bad review pops up on your website or in your inbox, don’t get defensive and don’t dismiss it. Learn from this review and most importantly respond.
If a customer had a bad experience, what do you plan to do for them now and how do you plan to prevent situations like this in the future? Respond to your customer and apologize and make it right by offering them a refund or asking them how you can fix the error.
How to apply to your Spirit Box and SBE:
If a student wants to return a product or has an issue with your Spirit Box, do the students know what to do next? Consider placing a sign next to the Spirit Box explaining how students can return items or exchange sizes on clothing.
4. Under-Promise and Over-Deliver
Here is where you can truly dazzle your customers. Always strive to exceed their expectations by over-delivering within your customer service and what you offer. For example, if you are in the product business always offer a reasonable timeline of delivery but then get it to them sooner! When you order a product online and you get it a few days before you were expecting it, what a pleasant surprise is that?
How to apply to your Spirit Box and SBE:
Throw in something special that they weren’t expecting like a hand-written thank you note or maybe even a coupon for a future order. Be creative and show them how much you care about them as a customer.
5. Reward Loyalty
....and treat your customers like ROYALTY. Every person who has ever supported your business is the reason your business became successful. Make sure to shower your customer with love and gratitude for their support.
- Send them a thank you email and make it personal!
- Offer them customer exclusive discounts
- Reward them for referring someone to your business by sending them a gift card or offering them a referral discount code.
How to apply to your Spirit Box and SBE:
If you are running a school-based enterprise or Spirit Box, it’s time to take these tips to your business. Sit down with your team and create a strategy for how you plan to create stellar customer service.
