You can increase your revenues with minimum capital. Simply offer great service that breeds loyalty and gets you business referrals.
Nothing ruins a good product like bad service, so much so that customers are willing to walk away from their favourite brands over bad service. PWC found that 32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after one bad experience. As an ISP, you should have neither bad service nor a bad product; it's simply good business sense. Yep!
As an ISP reseller, the bulk of your product features are provided and handled by your provider. Service, on the other hand, is where you can really shine.
Nothing we create is ever perfect, no plan is foolproof and so it's impossible to comprehend how customers will interact with your product. For example:
- Your services might have 99.9 percent uptime which is great, but what is your service like during that 0.1 percent?
- Your marketing plan has a clear path for onboarding a client, but what happens when the client needs assistance?
- When there is a dispute between your business and a client that isn't spelt out in the contract, how is it resolved?
The real test of service quality is in those unpredictable, unplanned moments. When the client is sinking and holds out their hand, do you have the capacity, systems and wherewithal to assist them?
Sell a great product
Your products are what clients will interact with every single day. Its performance will speak more to your clients than any charming marketing messages. Create a solid, reliable product that your business can stand behind.
Keep in mind, that the better the product performs the less need your clients will have for extra services. If your broadband has an uptime of 99.9% or better, then customers will not need to call in faults or demand price reductions for the poor network.
Create a knowledge base
More than 90% of customers prefer self-service over contacting a support agent. They want to solve their issue quickly without having to go through the process and hassle of contacting you. This is good news, because if you let these customers solve their own issues, you can free up your resources for other operations.
A knowledge base is composed of resources that help your customers understand and operate your product better. It is important because, within its archives, customers can find hacks, useful features and most importantly solutions. It is made up of blog posts, guidebooks, white papers, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and troubleshooting pages.
Have an omnipresence
Do not limit the number of ways that a customer can reach you; they like to have a choice. Being able to reach your business through their most convenient communication method makes a customer’s user experience so much better. So try to make your business reachable by phone, email, chat, social media and any other channels that apply to your target market.
An omnichannel is a contact centre platform that can be reached through multiple channels, and provide the same level of service regardless of the communication channels used.
Provide a human touch
Whether a customer logs a ticket online, uses the live chat, or calls in, it is really important that someone is available to listen (not just an automated response). They need the option to contact a human being that can attend to their needs as quickly as possible. That agent should thereafter strive to connect with the customer on a personal level.
The first response should be within 2 hours (support) and urgent service requests should be responded to within minutes. Quick turnaround time is beneficial to both your business and the customer's experience.
Listen to the customer's concerns
Repeating what you’ve heard from the customer in an insightful way demonstrates your understanding of their problem/needs. Your response should add value and give solutions because the problem could be much deeper than the symptoms the customer is describing. For example, calls breaking up could be a network problem or hardware failure that you can’t see.
Letting the customer know from diagnostics that you actually understand the cause of the problem, can provide solutions and offer a channel for feedback shows that you are committed to solving the problem. The hardware and software behind internet technologies are not known by the customer, so positioning yourself as a collaborator in finding a solution instils a sense of partnership.
Provide clear solutions
It is very important to communicate to the customer what actions will be taken to resolve the issue and to include timelines to the action. All this needs to be done as quickly as possible. Taking too long will demotivate the customer.
Walk new clients through your process
You might have a good reputation among your existing clients, but new customers won’t know you that well. They are a clean slate and first impressions matter.
When onboarding new customers, it is important to keep them informed so they know where their order/account sits in the onboarding process. It is also important that installations are delivered on time so that customers don’t have to wait. Customers should have a delightful experience when onboarding, not a frustrating one.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a new installation or existing customer, people should always know the status of their query and the next steps or project timelines. You don’t want the customer to have to keep following up and requesting information, you need to proactively keep them informed and remain responsive to build and maintain trust.
Accuracy is key, being fast should not lead to being sloppy. Try to manage the expectation of the customer; if the issue can’t be fixed immediately then say so, don’t over promise and under deliver.
Always end relationships on a good note
The way you treat your customers during cancellation counts towards your brand and customer experience. It will determine whether they come back should circumstances change, or most importantly, if they recommend you.
Resolutions are important, and they should be communicated as well. Sometimes businesses get into the habit of not fully closing tickets. Tickets need to be fully closed and then communicated to customers so they know and agree that the ticket is resolved, but the option to reopen is always available.
Conclusion
A 2019 study of Southern African companies found that good customer service can increase revenue by 30%. That's a latent opportunity you can take advantage of. Centre your business around customers and you will reap the rewards.
Looking for a reliable and customer-centric enabled internet service provider. Contact us today for home and business solutions.
