Customer follow-up is the most important part of customer service once a sale is made. After you made a sale, your customers need a telephone call or another type of contact to help develop a good relationship which can be used as a way to keep customers happy as well as introduce new products or services to your customer base. Many times, speaking to your client base after they are out of their sales pipeline is very difficult because of staffing issues and delegation of responsibilities. A customer follow-up service can help you keep in direct contact with your customers.
For many businesses, initiating personal outbound direct contact to customers is not a possibility. With a service, you can give customers the idea that customer service is as important as sales. A service will help you eliminate the need to staff your customer service department. Outsourcing saves your business money.
Follow-up telephone calls are one of the most effective means of customer service and customer retention available. The service is designed to free up business resources so you can concentrate efforts on other business tasks such as customer acquisition or advanced customer service issues. A follow-up service is seen as the first line of defense in tackling customer service. And, the follow-up can be as initial follow-up as well as a follow-up series of telephone calls beginning with a thank you phone call, escalating to a welcome call, then finally a two or three week product or service check in call. Another aspect is order confirmation and surveys for more streamlined product and marketing. Initial telephone calls setup a great customer dialogue base and can eliminate any prolonged customer follow-up as the customers feel they can contact you and have open dialogue with your business.
Customer service is essential when developing good relationships with your customers. They should know that they can contact you at any time with problems or questions and feel comfortable contacting you. Initial customer follow-up can be used to provide your customers with all pertinent contact information to make the process of contacting you simple. Also, an introductory phone call opens up lines of communication between your customer and your business.
If you use a follow-up service for continued service efforts, it is helpful to dispatch these follow-up calls every month if your budget will allow or at least every quarter (ideal for service companies). If you sell a product, often times one telephone call a few months after purchase can be helpful to promote word of mouth advertising. And, if the follow-up calls generate support requests, the service is able to transfer the calls directly to your support staff.
In today's internet linked and global world, one unhappy customer is not isolated. All it takes is a customer to start blogging and sharing their experience with others to account for a gradual loss in sales. When one customer has a bad experience, they will tell others of their experience. A follow-up call to your customers to ask them how they like your product or service or if they have any questions is a great way to keep customers happy and get product feedback.
No matter how you use a customer follow-up service, it adds a personal touch to your product or service and keeps your customers happy. By following up with your customers, you are creating a lifelong relationship with people who will recommend your product or service and purchase more in the future.