Social Media Marketing has proven itself at the front line to the trenches of customer service. By allowing a customer to click, call, chat, or email you their questions, you’re proving that you’re open to all types of communication and available for immediate answers!
Herein lies one of my greatest pet peeves of all time – how you respond!
Communication Is What Communication Does
Like many professionals – when I work, I’m working; when I play, I’m playing. I often multitask, and I am most certainly busy doing something other than hovering over my phone or computer. When I have the chance, I choose to disconnect. Entirely! These are just some of the reasons why I throw out a quick email or pop up a chat window when I have a question about my cell phone bill or how late the local Chinese Buffet is open.
Once I write and send that email I move on to something else. I am entirely engaged in the next phase of a project or packing up my things, on my way to that coveted land of disconnect. All too often, this is the moment my phone begins to vibrate across my desk, blaring an unknown number.
The truth is, I know it is likely going to be that doctor I just emailed for results or that hair salon calling to make the appointment that I thought I had just made. I KNOW who it is. That doesn’t mean I am going to answer it just so I can forget everything I am doing and lose momentum in my work. Truth be told, I never answer it.
Plain and simple, I have one rule that I live by as a marketing professional: Contact is what contact does. Tweet This
In other words, if I email you… email me back. If I spend five minutes of my time checking boxes on a form you’ve so neatly placed on your website that supposedly allows me to make appointments or information requests, confirm my form submission via email! Don’t assume you need to hear me say it when I’ve already said it to you before. Be prepared to leave me a voice message stating, “Thanks for your request. We’ve booked you in for the appointment time you’ve requested. Please confirm your appointment by giving us a call back or confirming via email.” Bam! How hard was that? The customer support specialist was able to mark me down as called, satisfying their number-crazy manager, and they’ve given me the option to communicate in a way that suits me best. This is what keeps me as a customer! Don’t give me the option to communicate in a way that is easiest for me? Then it is easier for me to find someone else.
The 15 Minute Rule
I’ve worked in customer support and sales before. Both of these professions teach some pretty straight forward points on communication like — a lead is considered hot only within the first few minutes after contact, so call them! We’re taught to be proactive by following up consistently with a phone call. We go through proper training on how to “temperature check” and “active listening skills.” I’m not going to argue that any of these sales tools are incorrect or shouldn’t be used. They should! However, they shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all of communication.
Calling a lead immediately is a great way of getting straight to the point, capturing the lead in conversation, and avoiding the communication breakdowns that can often be experienced in writing. Yet, all too often this is where the communication stops. Most businesses that follow up with an immediate phone call will think to only harass your voice mail repeatedly over the next week rather than attempt to touch base with you via email, text, or social media.
Hot Lead or Hot Potato
When consulting on better online marketing strategies, I often encourage professionals to consider their own habits as a reflection of their audience. So, consider this: how often do you search for a solution online, click across the first few search engine results, and stay on the website just long enough to find a way to communicate with that business? If you’re like me, you’ll quickly click through, stopping on a site only long enough to navigate to a contact page and send a message asking for help with whatever matter is at hand.
Most people searching online, will give a business less than 4 seconds to wow them before moving on to the next. Continuing with our initial scenario of the chronic web searcher, emailing for results – let’s consider what that prospect will do when you ring them up 10 minutes later, but another website had sent them an automated email thanking them for their question and providing a link to communicate further via phone, live chat, social media, or a forum on their website. Some will answer. Some expect to be called and a phone call is more worth their time, but our generations aren’t getting any younger. Most Internet searchers today will expect you to write back to them and won’t even consider answering the phone until you’ve established (in writing) that a phone call is needed or can be expected. Take this opportunity to increase the number of leads you get and retain by adding to those old tried and true tactics of reaching out by phone.
Keep Them Coming Back For More
By providing impeccable customer support to any website visitor, you’re assuring that visitor will become a strong advocate of your business. Whether that one visitor becomes a customer or not, you will never know just how many of their friends and Internet followers will become your next hot lead because of an online review, Tweet, or simple dinner conversation about how your business so quickly, kindly, and effectively attends to a prospects needs. While you can’t calculate these kinds of referrals individually, as you establish this kind of trust in your brand, your bottom line will surely prove you’ve made a difference!
Keep leads coming back for more by 1) being available and 2) actively providing links and resources on your website that encourage conversation. Tweet This Do more than just share your address, your phone number, and your hours of operation. List your social media profiles. Let users know how and when you are available. Create a Twitter profile specific to engaging with sales or support issues. Allow customer support to have access to messages sent via social media.
Consider how your company can be available 24/7. Even if you’re only receiving one or two questions now, the experience of one person will snowball into the experience of many. Move away from the idea that you have only 15 minutes to sell a new lead, and instead, consider this to be your new lead’s 15 minutes of fame. You are their biggest fan! Do anything and everything you can to reach out to them.
The Oldest Rule In The Book
The sales tactics we learn as sales and customer support specialists find their roots in the basics of psychology. In Psych 101, you’ll learn about effective listening skills and reflective communication styles that allow you to first state, “What I hear you saying is…” rather than jumping into a reply based on assumptions. Similarly, a basic psychology class will discuss “matching tone” with the person you are communicating with and setting an expectation through the tone you choose to respond with.
Today, tone is more than just your vocal inflections. I want you to liken the concept of matching tone to the idea of matching communication all around by offering a new prospect many different ways of reaching out to you and being willing to respond with that same mode of communication.
Great Examples Of Better Communication
The only thing that can possibly stop me from searching for a better solution online, is for a company to make a connection with me. Today, companies have so many more opportunities to connect with people. Once that connection is made, you’ll have that lead for life or at least until you break that level of trust you provide in being available to your customers.
I have had so many bad experiences that have led me to instantly abandon supporting a company, but what I remember are the truly great experiences. Today, the doctors offices I attend, the spa that I frequent, my go-to salon specialist, my electrician, and my favorite clothing companies are all companies that will communicate with me via text, chat, or social media. My life is intensely interactive and my time is precious, but I can always take time to advocate companies that I feel are great communicators!
American Express is a great example of instant customer support. AmEx has shut down their email support entirely, encouraging their customers to tweet to @AskAmex, send a Facebook message, or ask an online American Express community. Meanwhile, if these modes of communication are just a little to new-school for you, they provide several phone numbers for you to call.
By providing live support online via social media and forums, American Express reduces the wait time across their phone lines, just one of those extra perks that make their callers that much more satisfied with receiving instant support. However, providing live chat support via social media also allows American Express the ability to retain more customers through better support without having to hire as many employees as it would take to respond to each of these questions via phone support. Well trained chat specialists can engage with more than one customer at a time, effectively answering questions and streamlining customer support. Specialist that troubleshoot via a phone call can only deal with one customer at a time, and phone calls generally take much, much longer as customer verification is required before any help can be given. With the use of a proper online support system, the customer is already logged in and verified by the time a support chat starts.
Implementing A Better Communication Strategy
When considering how to implement this level of support with your own business, consider first how large your business is and what type of product or service you provide. Tweet This
As an individual providing a service such as being an electrician or makeup artist, consider downloading Google Hangouts, signing up for a Google Voice number, and allowing your customers to contact you by texting your Google Voice number or instant messaging your Google Hangouts email address. Both modes of communication come directly to your phone via the same web app, allowing you to respond as soon as you can without giving you real phone number out to everyone you know.
If you run a law office or doctor’s office where you’re concerned about the privacy of communicating with your clients, consider setting up a comprehensive emailing system with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) capability that allows you to track communication history with your client. Allow clients to ask general questions or send questions directly to a department or individual. Let your clients know that to retain the privacy of their accounts, any question that requires looking up their account personally will require that you call to verify identity and discuss their account privately over the phone.
If you run a larger business that is open to communication across the web, like a yoga studio or a local coffee shop, implement a social media CRM, like Sprout Social, where you can track communication with individuals across various social media accounts. A Social CRM like Sprout Social will allow you to assign users questions to team members and take notes about a customer on their account while responding to a customer’s concerns in real time.
Have more questions on how you might implement better customer support with your business? Leave us a comment below, Tweet us @AskBoost, or give us a call at 1-800-261-1537.
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