How can small businesses keep up with the latest customer service trends?

There’s only one Customer Service trend: take care of the customer. There might be different ways to listen, there might be different ways to reply, but putting someone else’s needs ahead of your own, is basic customer service in having a business.

There are many ways to understand customer feedback, but the most important is proactive feedback. If someone calls in you should ask them how you can improve. What roadblocks are they finding. Then you need to go ahead and fix them right in the product. Don't fix them with a help document. Fix them with a direct to the source solution!

Here are some ways small businesses can keep up with the latest customer service trends: - Stay updated with industry news and trends. - Attend webinars, workshops, and conferences. - Follow industry leaders and influencers on social media. - Subscribe to relevant newsletters and blogs. - Use customer feedback to identify emerging trends. - Regularly train your customer service team. - Leverage technology to improve customer service. - Collaborate with other businesses in your industry.

Select a few "good" customers and a few "PIA" customers, and personally reach out to them and ask: 1- What's working well with our service to you? 2- What needs work? LISTEN. TAKE NOTES. THANK THEM for their feedback. Do not argue/explain/defend etc., simply and genuinely listen. Decide if there are action steps you need to take as a result of what you've learned. You may uncover a need that is in line with a current trend, OR an emerging issue/need that is blossoming into a trend.

In monitoring customer feedback, focus on identifying whether the customer aligns with your business goals, operations, and labor structure. Recognize that not all customers are equal in terms of their value to the business. Segment your customers into categories such as ideal, practical, most profitable, and least stressful for your staff. This approach helps in targeting feedback monitoring efforts towards ideal customers. Use your monitoring systems to understand how to best serve the right customers, rather than attempting to cater to everyone. It’s important to remember that not every customer is your customer, and the adage “the customer is always right” doesn’t always hold true in every situation. Tailor your customer target.

Track where your ideal customers connect and interact. To effectively cater to them, avoid relying solely on assumptions or general data trends. Instead, invest time in understanding your ideal customers' preferred communication channels and information consumption habits. Utilize the capabilities of a CRM to track and analyze these preferences. Identify how your ideal customers prefer to become aware of, engage with, pay for, and share your services or products. Monitor the customer journey over a few weeks to gain understanding. This process should be a deliberate and internal effort, not left to chance. Tailor your omnichannel service strategy to meet the specific needs and preferences of your target audience.

A smooth omnichannel experience is essential in the focused-on customer's world of today. One of the most important steps in fulfilling those expectations is the combining of customer support channels and technology. Not only does it increase productivity, but it also ensures that clients will always receive excellent service, no matter which platform they use. Equitable importance is placed on providing agents with the knowledge and skills necessary to handle a wide range of questions and situations; this improves customer satisfaction.

1. Integrate Channels: Ensure all customer service platforms (website, phone, email, social media) are interconnected. 2. Consistent Experience: Maintain uniformity in service across all platforms. 3. Centralized Information: Give agents access to shared data and tools for a cohesive approach. 4. Comprehensive Training: Equip agents to handle various inquiries and scenarios on different platforms.

Personalizing your service means aligning it with the entire journey of the ideal customer, based on your prioritized goals. Customization involves understanding each stage of the customer's journey - from the environment that creates their need, to the trigger, awareness, interaction, transaction, follow-up, and referral. Utilize Lean Six Sigma resources to optimize around ideal clients. This approach ensures that you're aware and engaging at every touchpoint. By understanding and catering to your customer's journey, you can deliver solutions that are suited to their needs and preferences, enhancing their overall experience. This level of customization is critical in today's competitive market driven by ROI, AI and data mining.

In this day and age, with so many ‘automations’ many small businesses have lost touch with their customers because they no longer make themselves available for personalised customer service. How long has it been since you picked up the phone and spoke to your customers. No one calls anyone anymore, we rely on the email marketing system to do the work. Let’s go back to delivering personalised service and see how much thing’s pick up.

Utilizing AI is crucial for small businesses in enhancing customer service. AI multiplies your existing knowledge and experience, allowing for efficient assessment, engagement, and communication with clients. It’s a powerful tool for understanding customer patterns, needs, and behaviors. However, it's vital to keep pace with large tech companies that use AI to deeply understand consumer preferences. AI helps in creating tailored messaging and solutions that resonate with customers at the right time. For small businesses, effectively leveraging AI is key to providing personalized service and staying competitive in a rapidly evolving market. Embracing AI equips small businesses with the tools to understand and meet customer needs effectively.

1. Automation of Tasks: AI automates routine tasks like answering FAQs, scheduling appointments, and sending confirmations. 2. Data Analysis: Analyzes customer feedback and behavior for insights, aiding agent decisions. 3. Personalized Experiences: Creates tailored interactions using chatbots, voice assistants, and virtual reality.

Staying abreast of customer service trends requires owners to create a positive work environment. This involves providing essential resources, tools, training, and incentives, enabling employees to deeply understand customer needs. A transparent workplace with clear role definitions is key. The owner's responsibility includes maintaining accountability and motivation among the team, ensuring everyone is aligned. Effective employee engagement stems from leadership that strategically manages resources and customer interactions, avoiding undue stress on staff. When employees are supported and clear about their contribution to customer service, they are more equipped to deliver exceptional experiences. Invest the right team members.

1) Hire the people who have the best job match/fit to the customer service skills you desire. Improve your interviewing skills and consider including a legal pre-hire assessment. 2) Systematize the training each and every person receives. This doesn't have to be fancy. As a small business, you won't have the resources to do this like the larger companies. You can have a new employee take notes and document the training they receive as a start. 3) Follow up to ensure the new employees are continuing to do what they were trained to do, AND ask for their feedback on making the training better. 4) Involve your current employees in the process. 5) How you treat your customers speaks louder than your training. Be the example!

As a small business, to remain nimble, you must be open and willing to make changes...even if you "love" the way your customer service department works now. Just because you change something for the better, doesn't mean what you did before was wrong or bad. It means something in the business environment changed that you need to adapt to! Listen and read with open eyes and ears, especially to things you may not like to hear. It is there where you may discover the next idea that assists your company in continued growth and success!

There is no Customer Service 'Trend', customer service is that genuine care of existing customers and clients. There may be trends over the likes of technology used to help improve that customer service. But developing the people side of things such as feedback, going above and beyond, retention & life value analysis, etc... that is all old hat, might not be common practice but it is old wisdom. The only trends to be had here is genuinely leveraging the tools you have to hand. The same as marketing... human psychology does not change compared to information technology. Ditch the bright new spangled trend and stick to your values in real customer satisfaction, customer knowledge, customer feedback.