Career Tips: 7 Tips To Winning Customer Admiration

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If you seek excellence in anything that you do, then you no doubt would want to have a rich, rewarding customer service career. Although there are skills necessary in excelling in customer service (read: 20 Critical Customer Service Skills), there is another way to become a person of value to both customers and your employer, this can be achieved by winning the admiration of your customers.

The admiration I’m talking about is that which comes from respect and approval as a result of competence, talent, or skill. I have compiled a list of 7  tips that would be crucial for customer service professionals, who wish to learn how to win the admiration and respect of their customers.

#1. Be Friendly

Being friendly builds relationships, people are naturally drawn to those who are friendly. Friendliness enhances your relationship with the customers as they evolve from customers to friends. As a customer service professional, if you wish to excel in your career, it is very important that you are friendly with your customers.

Smile, welcome them, treat them with respect & give (genuine) compliments – friendliness can earn you tips, recommendations and positive feedback which are necessary for your well-being and career growth.

#2. Personalize Your Interactions

Personalizing your interaction with customers means striving to know and relate to them as individuals and being real about it. You can start by;

  • Introducing your self
  • Get rid of  ‘Sir’ and ‘Madam’- Use the customer’s name, or title (ask for permission first)
  • Avoid using scripts when possible, it’s better to let the conversation flow naturally

Friendly, personalized interaction with you is guaranteed to leave a positive impression on the customer. The customers would anticipate your services in future and would be on the lookout for you when next they visit. This would be a wonderful indicator of your customer service prowess.

#3. Be Responsive

Being responsive means that you react to situations, and customer requests quickly (with some sense of urgency). Ignoring customer requests, responding to enquiries hours later or simply doing things at your own pace are examples of being unresponsive. Responsiveness to customers builds trust and shows that you value their time.

As a customer service professional, responsiveness will leave your customers impressed and positively impact on the way they perceive not just your employer, but you as well.

#4. Dress For The Part

Your appearance has a significant impact on how people perceive you, and how you’ll perceive yourself. How you dress to work communicates to customers & colleagues who you are, your mindset and level of professionalism.

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Image: shutterstock.com

When you dress well & combine it with tips outlined in this post, it positively affects people’s impression of you and also their behaviour towards you.
Here are a few things you must avoid when dressing for success;

  • Never wear dirty clothes
  • Never wear wrinkled clothes
  • Avoid showing too much skin
  • Avoid dramatic makeup
  • Don’t wear clothes that do not fit well

Your dressing should communicate that you are trustworthy, confident, professional and capable of your assigned role, if your employer has a dress code, observe it and ensure you always look neat and trim.

#5. Show That You Really Care

When customers see that you actually care about them, it is only natural that they are drawn towards you and remain loyal to your employer. There are tons of ways you can show your customers that you care about their welfare & progress, here are my top 3 –

  • Solve their problems (as it relates to your work) – Giving customers a solution to their needs is an important way of showing you care about them. Apologize if need be, then make a good effort to resolve the challenge and send feedback to relevant departments to mitigate re-occurrence.  You can go the extra mile by calling the next day to confirm if the solution has been satisfactory.
  • Give them valuable information –  Tell the customer about company promos, tips and events they don’t know about, which might be of value to them in their businesses or personal lives
  • Take a Personal Interest – If the customer reveals information about birthdays, kids or anniversaries, try to remember them and bring it up when appropriate. Ask about their kids, or about how that anniversary party they told you about ‘went down’ next time you see them.

#6. Say ‘Thank You’

People desire to feel good and appreciated and saying thank is the simplest way of expressing gratitude. Appreciating your customers creates goodwill, which in turn makes them feel good about doing business with your employer and interacting with you.

Thank your customers as they leave, even if they didn’t make a purchase (you are appreciating them for taking the time & energy to come to you, and for all those people they’ve referred to your organization that you don’t know about).
If there was a purchase, you can go the extra mile by sending a handwritten Thank you note the next day, this is guaranteed to leave a great impression on the customer(s).

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#7. Keep Your Promises

Just like in any relationship, avoid making promises you can’t keep to your customers. When you make promises to customers and fail to keep them, it communicates to the customers that they are not valued, that you chose to attend to someone or something else in place of your commitment.

By breaking even small promises, customers learn that they cannot count on you (and your employer). If you have ever experienced how it feels when someone goes out of their way to keep a promise to you, then you’d understand why this is important in winning the respect and admiration of your customers. Keeping promises is a habit that is beneficial to all your relationships (work, personal & otherwise) as people see you as being reliable.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can store all your commitments in your head, eventually one or more will slip through the cracks. Make use of to-do lists, sticky notes, outlook reminders, mobile apps and other task management resources at your disposal.

When your customers admire and respect you for the work you do, and the way you do it, you are sure to be getting more; positive feedback, recommendations, tips and even job offers than your colleagues (who would also look up to you for tips & guidance). When you have learned to win your customers’ admiration, good things happen to your career.

 

 

Kelechi Okeke
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