Mastering Customer Interaction

Importance of Customer Interaction

• The number of communication channels is increasing, and communication can happen at any time due to today's connected culture.
• A framework is important to ensure opportunities to connect with customers aren't missed.

Customer Needs

• Customers need reliability, assurance, and empathy.
• Customers want to know that a business is dependable, exemplifying trustworthiness and keeping its promises.
• Customers seek affirmation that they've made the right choice, and validation comes from being helpful and meeting expectations.
• Customers want to feel understood, like company representatives see from their perspective, and appreciate personalized attention.
• A customer interaction strategy helps meet customer needs.
• Responsiveness, availability, and speed are important.
• Quick responses show customers they're valued and creates a good impression.

Customer Interaction Cycle

• It consists of five steps, forming a systematic approach to interaction for successful outcomes.
• These steps include:Greeting, Understand, Agreeing, Delivering, and Closing

Step 1: Greeting

• Greeting the customer sets the tone for the interaction and helps form their first impression of the service.
• Auto-responses acknowledge receipt of communication and a future response if an immediate greeting isn't possible (for example, outside business hours or email support).
• Respond and resolve problems as quickly as possible while taking steps to shorten the wait time.
• Sample greetings include:
  • "Hi, Thanks for contacting us! How can I help you?"
  • "Hello, you've reached [Your Company Name]. What can I assist you with today?"
  • "Good afternoon, great to hear from you. I'd be happy to assist you today. How can I help you?"

Step 2: Understand

• Focuses the customer's needs, working to understand them by assessing feelings and collecting facts.
• Asking clarifying questions, like "why?," helps get to the root of what a customer wants; ask multiple times to determine the real cause of their inquiry.
• Active listening is a major component and means being present and paying attention, tuning in and avoiding interruptions.
• Repeating what's been heard allows the customer to confirm it's understood correctly.
• Company representatives may handle many interactions daily, but it might be the only interaction a customer has with the company, making it crucial to treat each case with utmost care.
• Tone of voice can indicate sentiment changes during phone conversations.
• Sample phrases to use in the understanding step:
  • "May I ask why that is?"
  • "Can you tell me more about that?"
  • "Is there anything else I should know?"
  • "From what I understand...."

Step 3: Agreeing

• After greeting and understanding mutual agreement on the desired outcome is achieved.
• Offering information and options, setting expectations, and reaching a solution are key.
• Stay solution-focused; if something is impossible, be upfront about limitations and focus on what is possible.
• Offering something close to what they want can be acceptable.
• extra mile suggestions for a workaround or alternate solution are welcome.
• Resources like free months of service or special gifts can be offered as a consolation when other options aren't available.
• Confirm understanding with the customer after a solution is proposed, and ensure the customer understands any steps they need to take to reach resolution.
• Phrases to use when agreeing:
  • "What I can do is..."
  • "Right now, we offer..."
  • "Does this sound acceptable to you?"

Step 4: Delivering

• Delivering comes after agreement.
• Deliver clearly about what's going to happen and when.
• Keep the customer in the loop with updates on what's happening, why, and when they can expect to hear next.
• At the end of delivery, there should be no loose ends.
• Sample phrases for delivering:
  • "Here's what I'm going to do to resolve this."
  • "For you to have all you need, I'm going to do..."
  • "Is there anything else I can do?"

Step 5: Closing

• Conclude with a closing that encourages future contact.
• Thanking customers for contacting the business lets them know they're appreciated.
• Expressions of gratitude help customers feel valued.
• Check on the level of satisfaction by ensuring there's nothing else the customer needs, either by asking or through a follow-up satisfaction survey.
• Create positive outcomes with customer interaction.
• Follow up a day or two after closing to ask about an experience.
• Sample closing phrases include:
  • "Thank you for your business! Are you satisfied with the interaction today?"
  • "Thank you again for bringing this to our attention. Are you happy with the outcome of our conversation?"

Customer Interaction Management

• Everything a company does to successfully engage with customers.
• It is important to consider when building a program is that it will be serving many different types of customers. Ways to segment a customer base is based on their status

Types of Customers

• New: Made their first purchase and are early in the company relationship.
• Existing: Business has had a working relationship for some time.
• Past: Purchased in the past but are no longer buying from the business.
• Prospective: Potential customers are in need of need more information before a purchase decision.
• Segmenting customers allow you to route them to different teams that specialize in understanding and serving each group.

Types of Interaction

• Requests: Customers ask for new features/functionality or to build something from scratch.
• Questions: Customers don't understand something and seek clarification.
• Complaints: Customers have encountered an issue and are unhappy.
• Compliments: Customers are sending praise and want the business to know they're appreciated.
• Complaints are more urgent and sensitive than compliments, handled faster and by highly trained agents, for example.

Benefits of Customer Interaction

• Prevents negative word-of-mouth:
  • Customers with poor experiences will tell friends, family, and even strangers on social media.
• Boosts loyalty:
  • The quality of interactions can set a business apart.
  • Keeping a customer is more cost-effective than acquiring a new one.
• Increases referrals:
  • Customers recommend the business to others, growing the customer base without traditional marketing.
  • When impressed, they naturally tell others.
• Helps you to learn about your customers:
  • Interactions are invaluable for learning what customers want.
• Helps win customers back
  • Handled carefully after something has gone wrong
• Improves your opertations:
  • A way to find out how to make your business better
• Elevates employee motivation:
  • Will have a happier workforce
  • A happier employee means happier customers

Customer Interaction Strategy

• Requires a larger strategy implemented by managers to ensure consistency across every individual.
• Key to a successful strategy is well trained employee buy-in.
• Employees need to have the vision and make it happen.

Training Plan for CI

• Create a plan: Identify important skills and competencies to develop a list of competencies to train for.
• Practice: Create role-play situations for teams for skill practice and feedback. Ensure every interaction includes the five steps of the customer interaction cycle for full marks.
• Assess: Identify areas for improvement for employees and provide ongoing support and training.

Keep It Personalized

• Customer do not want to feel like a cog in the system, agents should avoid scripts and checklists.
• Take opportunities to personalize the customer interaction.
• You the customer's name when greeting them
• Empathize with their situation when explaining understanding
• The end result should be thoughtful and that anticipates any other needs they have.
• CI should be thought of as a framework and not a script.

Consider Multiple Channels

• Customers want to interact with a company on more channels than ever before,
• Channels include; live chat, social media, review sites, and community forums.
• The customer interaction cycle should still follow the cach interaction
• Social media interactions are often public and inappropriate for account and billing problems
• Don't move customers unnecessarily. If the question is initiated on the same channel that the answer is provided than it is much easier.

Customer Interaction Software

• Invest with software for customer interaction processes through several features like Freshdesk.