Josh Melick is the founder of three businesses, two of which are successful venture-backed technology companies. As the founder of numerous businesses and his experience as a business consultant, Melick has identified some of the key customer service mistakes many businesses are guilty of making.
One of the first mistakes which Josh Melick identified is that most businesses don’t work hard enough to foster a culture of customer appreciation. To rectify this error, Melick recommends that businesses put their staff through training programs that teach employees the value of customers. Furthermore, businesses should also promote employees who are passionate about customer service, which will further iterate the point that customer service is a high priority and that employees who treat their customers like VIP will be offered amazing opportunities.
Another mistake that Melick has identified is that most businesses don’t offer unique customer service experiences which will help their businesses stand out from the competition. An example of a company that managed to create a point of differentiation when it comes to customer service is Apple. As Apple’s Genius Bar is popular around the world and allows customers who prefer to get face-to-face help with electronics, to get the customer service that they’re looking for. The key is for businesses to find a sore spot an issue which their target audience has when it comes to customer service, which they can solve using a unique new form of customer service. Such as a concierge-style service.
While it’s important for companies to offer great face-to-face service, Melick also tells business owners that they also need to offer great online customer service. Especially as online shopping has become so popular. One mistake which businesses make when it comes to online customer service, is that they don’t get back to customer queries quick enough. Which is a huge problem as in today’s fast-paced world, consumers expect a response almost instantaneously and will take their money elsewhere, if they don’t receive a response soon enough.
In order for businesses to answer their customers’ questions as quickly as possible, Melick advises businesses to invest their resources into web-based chat teams, who can answer individuals’ questions directly from their website. Although some customers may still prefer to ask their questions via email. When it comes to email responses Melick tells businesses to ensure that every customer’s message is promptly replied to within 24 hours.
However, businesses shouldn’t spread their resources too thin when it comes to online customer support platforms and should only invest resources in a handful of platforms. For example, Melick actually believes that too many businesses waste resources on running Twitter-based customer support teams. A cost that isn’t worth the expense as Twitter will only attract a low volume of customer support questions.
If businesses can avoid making all of the easily avoidable errors which were listed above, Melick believes that they’ll have a strong chance of receiving high customer satisfaction ratings.
What To Expect From A Hot Yoga Experience
