The importance of making a good impression when dealing with customers.
Assessment Outcomes –
1.4 Describe the importance of making a good impression when dealing with customers.
A positive first impression is an important start to building a relationship with your customers. Whether the interaction is over the phone or in-person, the initial impression can set the tone for the entire customer experience
New customers are a lot like making a new friend. You need to make sure that you are making a good impression. After all, the goal here is to have a great relationship. So, it stands to reason that you want to make a great impression right from the start.
Here are some useful first-impression tips:
– Make eye contact.
– Give a nice, warm smile.
– Open with a sincere, friendly greeting.
– Pay attention to the customer – not to the product, your stock or a colleague.
– Greet the customer and ask a useful opening question.
– Never ignore the customer.
Making a good first impression is particularly important when it comes to meeting customers, pitching to potential clients, or during interviews. These are the key points at which people will meet you and begin to form an impression of you and the services you’re offering.
The 3R Rule: Responsibility, Resolution, Respect
If you are passionate about raising your customer service standards and want to make sure that your business thrives and grows, you should follow the 3R Rule of Customer Service.
1: Responsibility: Even if your company has made a small mistake or a blunder, you need to take responsibility of that rather than arguing with the customer. Trying to prove the customer wrong will make you lose the customer for good.
2: Resolution: Leaving a customer’s complaint unresolved is considered to be one of the greatest mistakes in customer service. You need to instantly provide resolution to all your customers’ issues.
3: Respect: The key to winning your customers’ hearts is to treat them with utmost respect. It requires training customer support staff to be extremely courteous and friendly towards all customers no matter what the medium of communication is, be it live chat support, telephone or email support.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
Five tips on how you can make a great impression to customers<- - download worksheet