Effective communication is crucial in establishing and maintaining positive relationships with customers. First impressions count and a positive communication experience leads to strengthened loyalty, referrals and shares on social media. Whether you are a small or big business, old or new, effective communication is vital for your company to thrive. In this post, we will explore some easy ways to help your business effectively communicate with new customers. 

• Reduce Waiting Times

Nobody enjoys waiting around, so wherever possible you need to reduce waiting times for customers. Whether you use chatbots, phone calls or emails, try to give your customers a rapid response, and if you can’t do that, try and give your customers an accurate estimation as to when they will hear back. 

Help Scout found that 75% of customers think it takes too long to talk to a live agent, and just this year 67% of customers hung up the phone out of frustration when they could not talk to someone. So reducing waiting times is a great way to entice new customers and keep your current ones too. 

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• Equip Your Company With The Best Tools

To ensure your company can give great customer service, you should equip the team with the means to do so. Phone calls are an important communication channel for new customers, and so you need to make sure you are investing enough time, effort and money into that communication channel. You may want to consider using smart business phone systems, such as Voco, to help simplify the process. This will help provide your business with a better sense of control regarding customer relationships as well as providing a more consistent customer experience, and we all know that consistency is key!

• Avoid Using Scripts

Using scripts is a sure-fire way to making sure you lose new customers. Avoid this as much as possible, because people know when you are being insincere and it will put them off from using your services. Customers, especially new customers, want to feel heard and the best way to do that is to listen to them and to use positive, simple language. By using overly complex language you risk losing the customer’s interest as the call will become impersonal. Another pro tip is to ask the customer questions to clarify something they are saying, firstly because it shows you are listening and secondly because it shows you are interested in what they have to say. It is that kind of attentiveness that leads to new customers returning to use your services again. 

• Use Social Media Platforms 

The rise of people using social media has grown exponentially in recent years and it is a great medium for communicating and grabbing the attention of potential new customers. Social media can be a bit of a double-edged sword at times, as you may experience public backlash from an unhappy customer. How you deal with that customer will be available for everyone to see and new customers will definitely be taking note of this before deciding whether your services are for them or not. 

A US study has found that 47% of people preferred using social media as an effective medium for communication and customer service. So take care of what your pages are doing and how they are dealing with things online as the world is watching. 

• Ask For Feedback

Do not be afraid to ask for feedback from your current customers, as this will give you a better insight into how to attract newer ones. You will be able to work out all of the things you are doing right, but also, all of the areas that might need some work. Either way, feedback is only going to benefit you, as not only do you gain more insight into customer wants, but your customers will feel heard and appreciated. It is a win-win. 

There are many ways you can seek feedback and it does not have to be overly complicated. The use of questionnaires, surveys, phone calls and more are all very effective methods. Just ensure that you do not make your feedback questions/forms too long because that can be frustrating for customers when it starts eating into their time. Plus when the frustration strikes, you are then more likely to get rushed and unhelpful answers. 

• Give Customers Choices 

This point is important because the more ways a new customer can reach you, the more likely you will be able to gain new customers from a wider consumer base.  It is quite a simple sales tactic that has a relatively low effort input, for quite a high reward. Do not restrict your options, use phone call services, apps, chatbots, social media and more. Technology has been evolving at a whirlwind rate and businesses need to keep up with these changes in order to be able to use them to their advantage

• Make Sure People From All Walks Of Life Feel Welcome

 Accessibility is key, and being mindful of this is strongly advised. Make sure to consider your deaf customers, your blind customers, those who may not have access to technology etcetera. This creates a welcoming atmosphere that will more naturally draw customers to you. 

• Never Make Promises You Can’t Keep

When responding to a customer’s needs, particularly quite an upset one, we can sometimes falter and make promises that we can’t stick to. As tempting as it can be, you will only be doing yourself and your business a big disservice when that customer comes back twice as angry the next occasion when they see you have broken your promise. There are lots of training services out there for individuals who need a bit of help with assertiveness, saying no and even just learning about the general use of language. 

The saying ‘communication is key’ was not born out of nothing. All companies and businesses alike should always keep striving to improve their communication with their customers, new or old! 

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