Africa-Press – Eswatini. With access to fewer resources and generally small teams, small businesses need to be more creative and tactful in their approach to customer service.
That’s not to say they can’t provide a top-notch experience, they absolutely can.
They just need to be a little more focused with their efforts.
In this article, we got the opportunity to chat with Dr Oliver Museka, the pioneer behind the Eswatini Customer Service Excellence Awards, who shares a very critical topic surrounding small business customer service.
Dr Museka shared that there are three main reasons as to why customer service is important:
1. It helps attract and retain customers.
2. It increases the lifetime value of customers.
3. It delivers insights that improve your product, marketing and or service.
“Happy customers don’t tend to take their business elsewhere. And though there are a number of things that could cause a customer to become unhappy, a poor customer service experience seems to be the worst offender. Customers who feel they can come to your company and have a great experience are more likely to keep coming back.
You can build trust with them by always offering a consistent experience” Museka said.
The kicker is that building that trust takes time, but it can only take one instance to lose it.
With enough great service, you can build some goodwill in case a mistake happens.
Small businesses and tight budgets go hand-in-hand. Referrals from customers who are evangelists help small companies continue to grow, and referral business is low cost to companies and can have a very successful close rate.
“Your customer service becomes a catalyst for creating happy clients that are willing to recommend your company to their friends and colleagues. Picture this: you board a taxi to a meeting in Ezulwini and you reside in Mbabane, on your way going down the valley there is a traffic jam and you are running late.
The taxi driver is kind and caring and seems to understand your preferred routes, he even offers a discount for a delay caused by a traffic jam. The chances are good that the next time you go out, you’ll hire the services of the same driver.
Right? You would even be encouraged to share the experience and recommend the taxi service to your friends, meaning more business for the driver.
Now, a good customer service team is like this taxi driver. It helps retain existing customers and gain more value from them, leading to increased revenue.
Even better, it generates positive word-of-mouth about your business, helping you acquire new customers at a lower cost of acquisition,” Dr Museka shared.
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