Good customer service is at the heart of any successful startup business venture. But as your patrons grow in number, it can be a challenge to maintain that, here, you will soon encounter various service errors that can mar the customer experience. So, how can you better handle and triumph over these errors? Let’s discover some great strategies.
Understanding Why Service Errors Happen In Your Startup Business
The first step in resolving customer service errors is understanding why they happen. Here, you will be surprised to learn that it is often a combination of factors. Some of these factors might be innocuous at first but they can add up to affect your ability to serve. Thus, identifying them early will help better approach and resolve the associated errors.
Lack Of Proper Training
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This one is arguably the most common reason why service errors happen. Your agents fail just because they don’t know what to do. Of course, you already provided initial training to your agents before assigning them to the task. But you have to realize that the initial training is not always enough. Agents need to hone their skills continuously in different situations.
Misunderstanding Expectations
Another common reason for service errors is your agents misunderstanding customer expectations. Here, it isn’t just about training. Your customers also need to be ready for customers changing expectations.
However, that is easier said than done. Each customer has different expectations. And they all have different responses should these not be met. Not being able to read these expectations can lead to misunderstandings and errors.
Agent Burnout
It is also worth noting that your agents do not always deliver the same level of performance. They will tire out at some point. And they can also become more pressured to accomplish their tasks. When this happens, they can succumb to burnout and commit errors.
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This particular cause of service error is often the most critical, as it tells you that there might be a bigger problem within your customer service environment. For instance, they might be dealing with too much workload. Beyond that, this coil also indicates that your agents are dealing with external issues affecting their work.
The Most Common Service Errors Your Startup Business Will Encounter
Service mistakes run the gamut, which can make responding to them a challenge to deal with. However, some are common enough that you are sure to encounter them almost regularly. As such, you want to use them as a basis for responding to other types of errors.
Not Getting The Right Information
This particular one can often be the root of many other service errors that you encounter. Here it can vary from simply getting one piece of information wrong to not getting many pertinent details. Meanwhile, the reason for such mistakes can be due to poor listening skills or not being able to ask the right questions.
Guessing Answers
While customers might be forgiving when it comes to incorrect responses. However, they can be more annoyed if they sense that your agents are simply guessing those answers. Here, they might think that you are not making the effort to resolve their issues.
Image from Jeff Shore.
A particularly bad example is when customers realize that you are using scripts. Keep in mind that scripts themselves are not bad. However, if it becomes evident that you are relying too much on them, it breaks the customer experience. People might then find it hard to believe the answers you provide.
Not Setting Up The Conversation Correctly
Okay, we all know customers often want their service concerns resolved quickly. However, simply rushing in to do that can itself be a cause of errors. The idea here is to set up the service conversation correctly to facilitate better communication. For that, your team should be aware of the nuances such as proper greetings and the right way of asking initial questions.
Dealing With Service Errors The Right Way
While preventing these errors from happening is always the priority of your startup business customer service team, dealing with these as they happen is also vital. To better do this, you need to be more strategic in your approach.
Letting Your Startup Business Embrace The Mistake
The first step is acknowledging the errors that happen. That isn’t just about saying sorry to the customer. You should also fully grasp what the error means for your business. In particular, you need to think of mistakes as a learning opportunity instead of a failure on the part of your team.
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That change in mindset helps your team keep their cool in the situation. They can better assess it and determine the best course of action. It also provides you the right opening to reach out to the customer.
Connecting With The Customer The Right Way
It is also essential that you can communicate with the customer effectively. Or, your team should be ready to empathize with them and acknowledge their feelings. It is also vital to apologize for the error immediately. That will show that you are ready to take responsibility for the situation.
Of course, given that opportunity, you should follow through. Beyond providing the customer with their desired solution, your team should also assure them that everything will be better. One strategy here is to provide them with incentives or freebies to make up for the error.
Getting Additional Support For Your Startup Business
But dealing with such service errors is not small work. To manage and resolve them, you need to have the right team behind you. Virtua Solutions offers a full customer service team that can help in such situations.
Our experienced agents will help you catch errors as they happen. They will then coordinate with your internal team to develop a better solution. Furthermore, we will help you create a long-term solution to manage these errors. Contact us today and let’s get started giving the best service for your startup business patrons.