3 deadly customer service mistakes that are hurting your company

Your business will die if you refuse to step up your customer service game. The 2015 Global State of Multichannel Service Report published by Microsoft Parature noted that 97 percent of global consumers list customer service as a critical factor in deciding what brand to choose and stay loyal to. According to the same report, 62 percent of these consumers stopped doing business with a brand that delivered poor customer service. That says plenty, doesn't it? People simply pull out their phones, find the competition with better customer service, and buy from them. Most entrepreneurs want to have a record-setting customer service, but few are able to transfer this desire into practice. But beyond a lack of understanding of the customer, there is a lot of other customer service mistakes entrepreneurs make that harm their businesses. Here are the three core ones that are easy to fix, and bound to improve your customer's satisfaction.

1. Providing regulars with an obviously better experience than first-timers

Do you ever walk into a store and feel piercing unfriendly eyes follow you? Never a good feeling. Some stores have created a deeply-knitted insider circle. While a close community of insiders is good for a company, it becomes a drawback when it is difficult for new people to break into the community. If this state of affairs is not properly handled, it may push your new customers to the competition. What’s worse than an impenetrable cult following? When the entrepreneur facilitates it by providing a better customer experience for the regulars than for first-times. For example, keeping certain privileges only for the regulars. While this may make the regulars happy, you are unwittingly turning your new possible customers over to the competition.

2. Blaming employees for poor customer service

No one likes to look bad. It's why we naturally shift the blame off ourselves when things go awry. But if you find yourself in the flaming, stinky aftermath of poor customer service, trading blame is the last thing you want to do. Blaming the other person - even when they obviously messed up - won't make them look bad. Instead, it will make you look incapable of controlling your own business. You will come off as undependable. And as a poor judge of talent (because you hired this clumsy individual who is now the object of your blame trade). None of these is a good quality of a business that would retain faithful customers. When customer service breaks down and tempers climb, affected customers just want the situation fixed, not hear about the inadequacies of your staff or company.  So, go ahead. Fix the problem, and trade blames later. For more trust and stability points, claim responsibility for their less-than-optimal experience. You would have succeeded in turning an angry, frustrated, or dissatisfied customer into a happy customer who would love you forever.

3. Keeping customers waiting without explanation

Customers hate to wait. In the Microsoft Parature survey, respondents across four countries - the US, Brazil, the UK, and Japan - consistently chose "Getting my issues resolved quickly" as the most important aspect of a satisfying customer service experience. Customers want their problems solved “yesterday”. But since your company won't have a limitless number of employees, there will be wait-times. To manage the natural agitations, you will want to keep the customers up to date on why they are being made to wait. Not doing so is a sure path to losing customers to the competition. Ever made any of these mistakes yourself? Are there more customer service gaffes you'll like to add. Share with us in the comments. ___ Are you a Nigerian entrepreneur with a transformative idea? Cranium One is a premium coworking hub that provides space for people to connect, collaborate and bring their ideas to reality. Learn more.