Customer Service Dilemmas: What suits your business best? | Andy ...

By Andy Jenkins on September 11th, 2011

If you generate your income by selling your own products or services, one of the best ways to build trust with your market is to have a reliable support system. Customer support allows you to help your clients better understand your products and it allows you to show that you care about them even after they?ve given their money to you. This helps you eliminate risk on the part of your customers, making it easier for them to refer you to friends and buy your latest offers in the future.

You don?t have to get the services of a large call center to offer support to your customers. There are several ways to go about this and all of them can be very effective even with minimal manpower and resources. I?ve listed the most common means of offering customer support along with their respective strengths and limitations. Here we go:

• Email support ? This type of support is suited for customers who can figure out things on their own but still need a minimum amount of help from a support group. The great thing about this, for the agent at least, is that you can figure out how to resolve an issue given an estimated period of response. When information is handed accurately to the customer, you can?t go wrong and they?ll be satisfied.
• Live chat support ? Live chat support is a dash closer to live phone support primarily because it happens in real time. For a support agent, there?s still a need to reply faster and in an accurate manner, but lesser so than the demand of live phone support. It?s somewhere in between being totally dedicated to the value of assisting your customers and playing on the safe side.
• Phone support ? This is where risk comes in. One single support agent mistake could mean bad PR for your entire company. Make sure you choose top-of-the-line people for live phone support. It could mean an enormous cost too, so be prepared if you?re considering serving your customers this way.

The good part about this is that you?re able to show your customers how much you value them by talking to them directly on the phone. It makes people feel a lot more secure and instructions are easily given through hearing. You can even guide a customer through a process while the agent stays on the line to make sure everything turns out right.

• Forum support ? This is where you have a few administrators managing a forum or a number where users can post questions. Having a support system based on the different contributions of your customers allows you to gauge how effective your user guides and resources are. It also gives you an idea about how your customers feel about doing certain tasks with your software or service.

The beauty of having a support forum is that it allows customers to help each other, relieving the load from your end. It?s also a great place where you can ask for feedback and suggestions for improvements on your products and services.

There you go, folks. A few customer service options you might want to check out when you?re in business and when you want to tell your customers that you value them. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

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Cheers,

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Andy

Please read my Affiliate Disclaimer: From time to time, I will promote, endorse, or suggest products and/or services for sale that are not my own. My recommendation is ALWAYS based on my personal belief that the product and it?s author will provide excellent and valuable information or service. This may be based on a review of that product, my personal or professional relationship with that person or company, and/or a previous positive experience with the person or company who?s product I am recommending. In most cases, I will be compensated via a commission if you decide to purchase that product based on my recommendation. In some cases, I will receive the product for free for review purposes, or just to use. In some cases, I have used that product to my personal satisfaction in my own business.

IMPORTANT: Always Always ALWAYS do your OWN due-diligence before making any purchases, whether I recommend them or not. Never, EVER purchase anything that you cannot afford. Avoid purchasing products that do not have a clearly stated Money Back Guarantee, or that promise ridiculous results, like ?Getting Rich Quick?. Most people don?t do anything with the products they buy, and most of the time, their results are zero ? kind of like that Bowflex that I bought that is now serving as a clothing rack? No, there is no such thing as a ?Free Lunch?. Don?t do drugs, stay in school, etc. Be safe out there!

Source: http://www.andyjenkinsblog.com/2011/09/11/customer-service-dilemmas-suits-business/

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