Every company loves the appreciative and cooperative customer. This person is the ideal interaction that fits neatly into a box, essentially representing reliable, repeat business. The unfortunate reality, however, is that satisfied customers aren’t your only customers. In fact, the ones that your company interacts with the most are likely on the “seeking satisfaction” end of the spectrum. Knowing your customer base and helping them find their way to the satisfied end of the spectrum should be a top priority.
When seeking to satisfy unhappy customers, it is important to realize that you aren’t just trying to satisfy that single individual—you are encouraging the person to support you as a company. Research shows that a startling 90 percent of consumers trust the recommendations of their peers, whereas only 14 percent trust standard advertisements. These figures without a doubt show the importance of maintaining stellar customer relations. Of course the company is going to speak well of itself; what holds weight is when its customers do. That same research shows that 73 percent of firms trust recommendations from friends and family.
“Word of mouth” doesn’t mean what it used to. With the explosion of social media, bad press and poor word of mouth have the potential to reach infinitely further than the next door neighbor. This is why it is important to open up clean lines of communication and service to address their needs.
To better serve customers, it is important to adopt the way that they interact in order to interact with them. This is why adopting a virtual call center solution can be extremely beneficial. The virtual call center lives on the Internet, where the vast majority – if not, all – of your customers do. The technology offers services such as real-time communication, call blending or even live video chat so that the customer can be addressed in the way that he or she most prefers. Additionally, its lower cost when compared to a traditional call center allows for more agents, which leads to shorter telephone wait times.