Holding meaningful and often difficult conversations happen on a frequent basis for many people. For businesses, this can mean talking between colleagues, visitors and suppliers, but it can also mean focusing on what you say to customers. While customer service is key, so are how you speak with customers.
Communicating is a important part of gaining and retaining customers, and when it comes to chatting about some of the negative aspects of business – missed orders or problems with services – how you speak is key. So what are the things you should think about when coming up with a plan for comms in your business? Here are our tips:
What are you likely to speak to customers about?
It’s important first of all to understand why customers may be contacting you. It sounds simple, but having a list of all lines of communication and reasons why will allow you to tailor responses and decide how best to approach your tone of voice.
You may think you have minimum communication with customers. But stripping it down, here are just a few examples of how – and why – you may speak to customers:
- Social media
- Invoicing
- Newsletters
- Telephone
- In store visiting
While some of these aren’t written, as such, they help identify why you may be speaking with customers.
Understand your customer’s needs
After acknowledging what you may speak to your customers about, now you need to think about their needs. What are they contacting for, and what are they looking to get. Again, this could be as simple as buying something from you. But most situations require a form of conversation, from enquiries and leads to aftercare and future sales. But when you’ve decided this, what do they need from you? Knowing this means you can tailor any plans to suit their needs.
Define exactly how you want to speak to customers – tone is important!
You’ve probably heard of the term ‘tone of voice’ but maybe you aren’t sure how to define it. According to Mail Chimp, a brand’s tone of voice “is your personality and how you sound to other people”. Tone of voice is a key part of your marketing, but should also form part of your response to customers.
For example, if your tone of voice is more youthful and current, you might say:
Hey there! Thanks for getting in contact with us. We’ve taken a little peak at our records and it turns out you can expect your parcel tomorrow morning. If you have any further problems, please do give us a shout. Cheers!
Conversely, if your approach is more formal, you would say:
Morning. Thank you for getting in touch. Our records state your delivery will be made tomorrow morning. For anything else, please get back in contact. Thanks.
Both approaches are different, but are just simple example of how your tone of voice can change one easy exchange.
Dedicate Enough Time to Customer Service and Success
Your staff need to know how to talk to staff, and how to either a) give customers what they need, or b) communicate bad news in a palatable way. Depending on your business, you may have chance to employ an entire function on customer service or success, but if not, you need to hire the right people that are customer facing. These people are the eyes and ears of your business, having staff that are in tune with that will always help start and continue a positive conversation.
Be Clear, Be Concise
Customers are at their happiest when they get what they want from a business. But secondly, all most customers want is clear information about when they will get their order, or why their service is cancelled, and when they can expect a product back in stock. The best way to keep a good conversation and relationship flowing with a customer is to be honest and clear. It is all about managing expectations and not coming across as like you are hiding something.
Treat Your Customers Like Gold Dust
Customers are incredibly hard to find, but what’s harder is to fine new ones when the old ones have gone. It is easier to retain customers than find new ones. But it is easier to find new ones when you have happy current customers. So treat them like gold dust and as long as you are offering a good service, you will get continued success.
We value our customer interactions highly because we understand that a good customer is a happy customer. For more chance to hear how we can help your business with other basic needs (like waste disposal and hygiene services) visit our central hub for workplace services today.
Back