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4 Hacks to Ensure Excellent Customer Service for a Startup Business

How you deal with customers is instrumental to the success of small, startup businesses – they hold the key to your success, so it is essential to ensure that your customer service is as outstanding as possible

Although this might be difficult for startup businesses in the early stages of their development, we have put together a few hacks to help your customer service remain five stars!

1- Ensure Your Contact Details are Professional

While it might be tempting to link all your business enquiries to your personal phone and email, this might cause you a lot more problems in the long run. Firstly, you might find yourself unable to switch off from your business – both figuratively and literally – if your phone and inbox are full of business-related enquiries.

Also, if your answering machine message is a funny joke you made with friends three years ago, or you still use the same email you used in middle school, this may cause you to look unprofessional. This, of course, can make clients less inclined to do business with you. 

You should ensure you have a separate business phone number (avoid cell phone numbers if possible) and a tailored email with your business name.

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2- Invest in a Virtual Receptionist

Virtual receptionists are a great way to streamline your business services if you aren’t currently in a position to hire a receptionist. Whether it’s because you don’t have an office yet or if you want to be certain receptionists will maintain the highest quality of customer service possible, having someone is often better than not.

Plenty of remote call answering services offer virtual receptionists as part of one of their key services. These call answering agencies can transfer calls from the number given to them to a call centre, where trained receptionists can perform a variety of tasks for your business, such as transferring calls, taking messages, and even processing transactions on your behalf.

With so many people making the transition to working from home, virtual receptionists are rising in popularity in aiding startup business owners to run their business as smoothly and professionally as possible, even if the business is still running from their bedroom.

3- Don’t Take Criticism Personally

Feedback is vital for your business to develop in the right direction. If your customers tell you an aspect of your product or service needs improvement, it is crucial to see it as an opportunity for growth as opposed to a negative.

Although it can be difficult to swallow when you’ve put so much work into your business, that doesn’t invalidate the work you’ve done so far – instead, this criticism is room for your business to grow more now and for the good things you do to be further highlighted!

4- Be Realistic About What You Can Deliver

While it can be easy to fall into the trap of making false promises for a quick sale, it will leave you worse off in the long run when the customer’s expectations end up not being met.

Mutual trust between customer and business is vital to ensure good word of mouth. So, if you aren’t sure you have the manpower to deliver a product within 48 hours or to provide the specific service the customer wants, it is better to lose out on the sale than make one that will ultimately lead to your business gaining a bad reputation.

As you can see, the smallest of changes can make the hugest difference in how your business is presented to customers. It’s always vital to remember that good customer relationships and the success of a company are two things that are inherently linked, no matter what sector your business is in.

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