Client care service: the mindset is essential
It is absolutely vital for the product company to provide the A-one client care service.
I’m sure you have come across this rhetoric numerous times and might have already had enough of it. But before throwing this post away, did you notice I said Client Care and not Customer Support?
These two terms effectively signify two contrasting mindsets. The first one is absolutely dependence-producing both for your existing and prospecting clients, and the other one while being more popular and accustomed is just business as usual.
Customer ≠ Client
Customer is transactional. Client implies a long-term, protective, loyal and ongoing business relationship.
Thinking Customer, you focus your business on selling, with the goal to get the customer buy something. Thinking Client, you focus your business on serving, with the goal to look out your client needs and provide them with the best service you can.
Support ≠ Care
Your help desk team may be all domain experts, diligent and responsible people doing their best to resolve the issues to the claimant’s satisfaction and as fast as possible. But this rather sounds as an old good call center kind of thing, doesn’t it?
Care goes a way beyond by building an emotional connection between your company and the client.
Merriam-Webster has it as follows:
support — an act or instance of helping / help or assistance to someone or something;
care — painstaking or watchful attention / regard coming from desire or esteem / responsibility for the safety and well-being of someone or something / the duty or function of watching or guarding for the sake of proper direction or control.
“People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel.”— Maya Angelou
It all comes down to people. You do not do business with abstract companies; there are always people you need to meet with, negotiate with, sign contracts with. And the trust and personal touch are of the highest value:
without trust, there can be no fruitful relationship, and without the personal touch, there can be no emotional connection strengthening one.
That is why besides effectiveness, your help desk team should care about the experience the client gets from every interaction with your company.
It is also important to understand that there are no one-off interactions. Every one of them matters and contributes to building a sustained relationship with the client.
“When I think about great service, it’s about how you take every interaction you have with the client and use that as a way to improve their perception of your organization.”
— Jon Herstein
That is the mindset you’ve got to change. And here are a few ‘beacons’ that will help you find your way from the customer support to the client care:
- Empathize with your clients. Let them feel you really understand their pain and have sincere willingness to help. You are always there for them.
Feel with your clients but stay emotionally stable and firm. - Nourish the client’s interest in your product, effectively engage with the clients, and always add a gentle personal touch.
- Never give false promises just to calm them down or keep them interested. This might work for a period, but when the truth comes out, you will lose all your credits at once.
- Never leave your clients in limbo.
Keep your clients informed with the status of their request. Don’t get them on the anxious seat.
Even if you cannot help with a particular request right now (there can be multiple reasons), set the client’s expectations straight by articulating the need for additional investigation/review and indicating when you will get back to them with the news.
The above comes neither from the company policy nor from the boss saying it. It comes from the natural desire of taking pride in representing the company and safeguarding its reputation.
Ignite that desire in your team, let them feel how important their role is for fostering the success of the company. Show them by example how the different mindset pays back.
