Written by Ann Morison

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we live our lives and conduct our business.

It has forced us to be creative with how we offer our services to customers so that we retain them and stay profitable. Whilst customer service has always been important for business, it is even more so today. How we treat our customers during critical times such as these may determine their future loyalty and can affect the overall image of a business.

One of the most important things we can offer customers today is empathy. This will mean that conversations are centred around a genuine need to understand, build connection and maintain relationships with every customer individually.

Employees need to be prepared to serve each customer knowing that they may be affected by the pandemic in some way. For example, maybe a customer is calling in to cancel a product order because they have just lost their job or that their family member has tested positive for Covid-19.

The ability to listen, think and connect to make sure each interaction makes customers feel supported are vital skills. Demonstrating empathy has the power to deliver the short-term benefit of satisfying customers in the moment, and the long-term benefit of creating a positive emotional connection that translates to brand loyalty. A memorable, positive interaction with a customer can create a lasting impression of your brand and aids in future marketing as customers feel loyal to and connected with your business.

What you can do to deliver extra care to your customers?

Communicate

Staying in contact with your customers is important as it lets them know you are with them and willing to help them in any way you can. This might mean offering information about your products or services that directly affect them or any changes that you are making. It will also aid in reducing the need for them to have to contact you. Here are some ways you can communicate with your customers:

• Provide critical information proactively
• Respond to questions and concerns with high empathy
• Exercise lots of patience.
• Make sure all employees are trained properly in empathy to create positive memorable customer experiences.

Utilize Technology

Technology is changing rapidly and there are so many options available for you to utilize in your business to provide service to your customers. You can consider an app that customers can use to connect with you remotely or live chat sessions on your website for added support. Here are some more ways to utilise technology:

• Implement a call back feature to reduce waiting times
• Update self-help portals
• Rethink video customer service strategies. These can help deepen relationships, build trust and connect on a human level

Focus on your teams

Your employees will be instrumental in allowing the business to get through the pandemic. Working from home will require more support and making sure you check in with them to stay connected. You can do this in a few ways:

• Find out what they need or are struggling with
• Start conversations by asking what solutions they are looking for
• Prioritise human connection
• Establish regular video meetings, enabling workplace chat, group conversations and encouraging colleagues to reach out to each other. This will help your team remain engaged during uncertain times.

These strategies will help you maintain great customer service which is vital to your business because you will retain customers and extract more value from them. Quality service can help you recoup customer acquisition costs by cultivating a loyal following that will result in referrals and great reviews or feedback. It can also increase the amount that customers spend with you or how often they buy. Remember also that your team is a key link to providing great customer service and so it is vital to communicate with them and keep them engaged and connected with their colleagues.

Enhance your professional development skills with courses at Odyssey Training. Our full-day online professional development courses are available in both face-to-face format aswell  available in online training. Our online training is recorded live, which means that you can interact with our trainer or facilitator throughout the day. All courses can be customisable and tailored to each individuals needs.

Discover some of our customer service training from learning the fundamentals sof customer service, through to managing and leading customer service teams. Odyssey Training has a huge range of available courses. Contact our friendly staff for tailored solutions.

A few of our related training courses:

• Customer Service: Exceeding Expectations 
• Dealing with Difficult Customer Behaviour and Complaints 
• Building Resilient Teams