There is nothing more critical to your survival as a business than the customer service skills of your employees. Those business owners that do not properly train every one of their employees with regard to this crucial skill will find themselves without a business in a rather short period of time. The most effective way to extend your brand awareness and stay in touch with your customers is through your social media platforms. Your customer service people are as important as your sales force and you need to ensure that your social media marketing, your customer service, is as sharp as any pencil in the company.
Recently, Headway Capital recently published some research it did on this particular matter. Here are some of the highlights:
- While this particular stat is utterly startling, it is not really surprising. The research found that over 80% of the companies they studied believe that their customer service is excellent. Only 8% of customers think the same thing. Wake up and smell the reality rather than your possible delusion.
- Over $40 billion is lost every year due to poor customer service. Nearly 35% of customers polled stated that they would rather approach a company through the social media channels rather than call their customer service people and those who had a positive experience with social media customer service ended up buying nearly 40% more than they had anticipated.
- The survey research found that early 50% of customers will tell someone if they had a good experience with your company. Basic marketing 101, however, can be more stark. A good experience gets told to three people while a bad experience gets told to seven. Nuff said.
- Most customer service complaints go unattended to. On Twitter, 70% of customer contacts go unanswered. This will spell your doom. You must get to them within an hour’s time and you must do whatever is necessary to make that customer happy.
- If things are degenerating, take the conversation off line and call in others who may be able to help. When you get a great comment from a happy and satisfied customer, post it immediately and prominently. There is nothing better than that to boost your social media marketing effectiveness.
- Make sure your people recognize the trolls out there. Understand the character of these trolls and disengage as quickly as you can. The true key to your social media customer service success will always be training. If you can’t do it, hire people who can train your people properly. They must be as good, and as effective, as your sales reps. Again, this won’t be a cost but, rather, an investment in your future.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
