Providing outstanding customer service involves more than giving a smile and sharing niceties. It’s about directly addressing problems customers may have with your service. Traditional stores have a serious advantage over online operations in this area because they can directly observe customers and provide closer support if needed. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s smooth sailing for physical businesses.
If you run small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) with a physical retail channel, customer service can often take a back seat because of all the other day-to-day concerns involved in running a brick-and-mortar location. But because enhanced customer service is a key reason customers flock to traditional stores, you can’t afford to be complacent in this area. Let’s look at 6 common customer service mistakes that you’ll need to rectify to help your store reach its next stage of growth.
1) Not Practicing Empathy
A failure to practice empathy is at the core of many customer service issues and is a leading reason for unsatisfactory issue resolutions. Not being able to put yourself in your customers’ shoes will inevitably make it difficult to hone in on customer pain points, resulting in limited growth for your business. Empathy is a learned skill so try to consciously cultivate it in yourself and among your customer service team.
2) Not Accepting Different Payment Methods
With the rise of e-wallets, QR payment codes, and modern payment card technologies like dipped EMV and tap-to-pay NFC cards, traditional swipe card payment terminals are no longer meeting customer expectations. Your store’s physical and virtual payment terminal solutions need to be able to accept whichever settlement method your customers want.
If you need a payment terminal machine that does it all, the Maya Terminal and its ultramobile sibling, the Maya Terminal Lite, are great choices for small retail businesses. With their ability to accept popular e-wallets, a full range of payment cards, and other emerging contactless settlement methods, Maya’s payment terminal solutions offer your store simple but effective ways to attract customers and to foster repeat business.
3) Not Practicing Active Listening
With attention spans getting shorter, the ability to show that you’re truly engaged with what your customers are saying can be a huge boon to your business. Active listening builds trust, reduces misunderstandings, and makes it possible to manage customers’ concerns effectively. Be sure to employ best practices for best listening such as maintaining eye contact, using both verbal and non-verbal cues, and writing down notes of key customer concerns.
4) Making Your Customer Repeat Information They Already Told You
This is related to the previous mistake but it deserves its own place because of how damaging it can be to customer relationships, particularly if a customer is already irate. Having a customer repeat their story right after they have already told you tells them that you do not value them, which is likely to agitate them even further, making it unlikely they will patronize your business again.
But what if you need to confirm their issue? You can avoid exacerbating your customer’s stress by setting expectations, repeating to them what you believe you heard, and asking them if you understood them correctly. Doing this approach shows respect and clears up any ambiguity, allowing you to build trust and address concerns effectively.
5) Not Training Your Customer Service Team
Philippine-based customers are now more demanding when it comes to service which means poorly-trained staff can be a serious liability. It’s a good idea to hire customer-facing staff members that already have good soft skills but, at the end of the day, you still need to train them well if you want your store to deliver a winning customer experience. Make sure your employees are intimately familiar with proper etiquette and your store’s products so that they can help customers with any issue they might have.
6) Not Offering Omnichannel Service
Lastly, customers today expect businesses to provide seamless and integrated experiences across multiple channels. Failing to offer service both in-store and over your online channels can result in missed opportunities to address customer issues and create advocates for your business. Implement a customer service ticketing system that allows customer concerns to be easily tracked and managed across different channels.
Cultivate Lasting Customer Relationships with Payment Terminal from Maya Business
The Maya Terminal and Maya Terminal Lite devices empower your store to build seamless payment experiences that keep your customers coming back for more. Create a Maya Business Manager account to request these digital wallet and card payment terminals that will help you enhance your physical store’s customer service capabilities.
Once your Maya Business Manager account is approved, you’ll gain access to the Maya 1-2-3 Grow business growth bundle. Maya 1-2-3 Grow is designed for small businesses like yours and will help you secure your success with a 1% MDR discount on all QR Ph sales for 3 months after signing up. This translates to PHP 14,600 in savings for every PHP 1 million in QR Ph sales. As part of the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle, you can also enjoy the benefits of using Maya Business Deposit as your settlement account. With an industry-leading 2.5% per annum interest rate, you’ll earn PHP 25,000 in interest per year on a PHP 1 million deposit. Finally, signing up also qualifies you for a Maya Flexi Loan offer of up to PHP 2 million in only 3 months, giving you a new optional source of funds to build your business and seize market opportunities. Complete your Maya Business Manager account set up to take advantage of the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle and enjoy Maya Business’s popular in-store payment solutions.
