Kate’s thoughts on ‘customer service’!

Having spent the formative years of my career – in fact, cut that… having only ever worked for businesses that lived and breathed by the belief that the customer is at the heart of everything you do… it always gets my goat when you run into a poor customer experience!

Thankfully, it doesn’t happen often. But when it does happen; boy oh boy, are they memorable. Some can leave us reeling from the scars and more than willing to share our story!

However, rather than sharing a recent episode – a shocker think some people would call it – I thought it more important than ever to remember how to create a great customer experience. Making people smile can be the most rewarding thing, even if all you have done is the simplest thing, like made a colleague a great cup of tea.

This is a subjective view and what I think may not be same as the next – as they say, ‘what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander’. However, here are a few things I have learnt along the way and strive to remember:

Listen to your customers… make them feel important… anticipate their needs… look for ways to help i.e. always look to say ‘yes’ or provide a solution and where possible try to give a little bit more than was expected… These things all add up to a great start, and get you on your way to making that smile!

Finally, above all else; do not be afraid to apologise if something goes wrong. After all, none of us can be right all of the time…!