When it comes to great customer service, some organizations get it right and others miss the boat entirely. 89% of consumers would switch to a competitor following a poor customer experience. Don't make that mistake! Here are five of the most important steps to improving customer service that you can put to work today.

1. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O
I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E

2. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
"You never get a second chance to make a first impression"should be the mantra for
all customer service-oriented organizations that not only want to make that all-
important initial sale, but also create repeat selling opportunities and excellent
referral pipelines. Any less and these companies can quickly find themselves
grappling with negative feedback, lost sales, and an exodus of customers to their
nearest competitor.
When it comes to great customer service, some organizations get it right and
others miss the boat entirely. Business call centers provide the perfect backdrop
to offer excellent customer service to a wide range of callers – unfortunately, that
is not always the case. All it takes is one rude encounter to directly impact a
company’s bottom line. Bad service, lost customers, and associated
replacement of those departed clients are three financial costs that can push a
company’s profits into negative territory.

3. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
Consider these statistics:
$83 BILLION
LOST EACH YEAR
as a result of poor customer experiences.
Source: Parature Customer Service Blog
89%
OF CONSUMERS
began doing business with a
competitor following a poor
customer experience.
Source: RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report 2011
$289AVERAGE ANNUAL VALUE
OF EACH CUSTOMER LOST
TO A COMPETITOR
Source: Genesys Report – The Cost of Poor Customer Service
50% OF CONSUMERS
give a brand just ONE WEEK
to respond to an issue before they stop
doing business with them.
Source: RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report 2011

4. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
There are a number of tried-and-true tactics that you can use to make sure your
business does not fall into the bad customer service trap.
Here are five that you can put to work right now!
THE GOOD NEWS:

5. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
ESTABLISH A SOLID “FRONT LINE” FOR YOUR BUSINESS.1
Too many organizations waste time and
resources building out internal, front-line
customer service support teams and neglect the
more important aspects of their business.
The end result is an organization that has spread
itself too thin and hampers its own productivity
and profitability as a result. Customer service
suffers in these situations when no one really
knows where the front line is.
Allowing a call center to handle the front line
allows you to focus your efforts and resources on
more important activities.
Let your call center services
provider handle those critical
first impressions for you
Create a 24-hour presence
for your customers with your
call center
Ensure that calls made
during plateaus, peaks, and
after hours are answered
promptly and professionally
TIPS TO AVOID COSTLY
FRONT-LINE MISTAKES:

6. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
LOWER YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE WAIT TIMES TO A
BARE MINIMUM.
2
There’s nothing more frustrating for a customer than having to
wait to complain, ask a question, or provide feedback. As the
seconds or minutes tick by, your client becomes increasingly
irate. How can you avoid this? Utilize a call center provider with
experience and expertise to answer every call in seconds.
Your provider will equip your business with data gathering, including recorded calls,
call data and reporting to be more proactive versus reactive with your service. Top
contact centers enable businesses access to benefit from best of breed technologies,
without the cost burdens of having to bring all the equipment, software and
infrastructure inside a business.

7. Leverage a large team of trained professionals for immediate live answer,
thus eliminating the risk of creating a “bad impression” of sitting on hold. You
and/or your call center provider should also listen to recorded conversations and
identify the key elements that make up those conversations to identify trends
and prepare for faster, more effective turn-around time to problem resolution.
T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E

8. Peak calling hours can quickly turn into a customer service nightmare. Calls are
stacking up, queues are backing up, and there simply aren’t enough hands on deck
to handle the onslaught. Hiring additional employees is an expensive option,
particularly if these peak periods only come a few times a month, quarter, or year.
You want your customers to be able to confidently call you on their schedules and
not when they think your company is open and operating.
T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
UTILIZE CONTACT SERVICES CENTERS TO ASSIST WITH
CALL VOLUME DURING PEAK PERIODS.
3

9. An easy way to achieve this goal is by outsourcing the task to a reputable contact
services center that can deftly handle any overload that your firm is experiencing.
By putting this overload into the hands of a reputable, experienced firm you’ll be
taking the pressure off of your own company and allowing it to focus on what it
does best.
T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
3 PROVIDE LIVE CHAT SUPPORT.4
This one may seem obvious in today’s connected world, but a surprising number of
companies overlook the need for live chat support when setting up their online
customer service functions. This is a mistake that you can’t afford to make if you
want to provide excellent customer service and reduce the number of customer
phone calls and the costs associated with these live contacts.

10. You can use live chat to improve the customer’s
overall experience while also enhancing your
customer service offering. This is a win-win
situation for the tech-savvy customer who
would rather open a live chat window than pick
up the phone to get his or her problem solved.
Customers submit their inquiries via a web-
based interface, thus eliminating the need to
dial the call center. This makes your online
customer service offering even more cost-
effective than the phone, allows clients to
submit their inquiries in real-time via a web-
based interface, and eliminates the need to dial
the call center directly.
T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E

11. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
3 CREATE A COMPANY-WIDE CULTURE AROUND
CUSTOMER SERVICE.
5
Good customer service starts at the top. When executives, owners, managers, and
other stakeholders buy into the idea that customer service should be job one, the
rest of the organization will follow suit. Clarify specific behaviors and actions that
employees should be delivering when working on the front lines with customers –
as well as with co-workers, vendors, and others. Craft a mission statement that
reflects this commitment to excellence and avoid wavering from it. Highlight
examples of customer service – both within and outside of the company – through
recognition ceremonies, events, celebrations, and simple gestures like mentions of
top customer service efforts in a corporate newsletter. Borrow a page from Disney
and start training employees on the value of excellent customer service during the
orientation period – not once they are already on the job and dealing with your
valued customers.

12. T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
As you determine which of these strategies to fold into your own organization’s
mission, remember that good customer service is the lifeblood of any business.
Whether you are selling products, services, or a mix of both, you simply cannot
grow and prosper without the support of your existing customers. Promotions and
price-slashing may bring them back in a pinch; however, promoting long-term
relationships and ongoing referrals requires a concentrated effort to operate at the
highest level of customer service possible.
REMEMBER... GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Delivers a “WOW” factor with every engagement
Improves brand loyalty
Recommits customers to your company
Engages existing clients more deeply
Leaves every customer with a positive experience

13. To learn more about how AnswerNow can create the WOW!
experience for your customers, contact us today!
1-800-226-0491
5665 W BEVERLY LANE
GLENDALE, AZ 85306
T H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C ET H E 5 M O S T I M P O R T A N T S T E P S T O I M P R O V I N G C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
WWW.ANSWERNOWINC.COM