In this blog post, Mercury Security Management’s CEO, Frank Cullen, discusses the importance of providing excellent customer service.  

When we started Mercury Security Management many years ago, a Customer Service strategy was vital and it was essential to make the customer journey a pleasant one. At Mercury Security, we worked hard at building strong customer relationships, delivering quick response times, providing contact points and offering total flexibility.

As a business, we recognise that it is our responsibility to ensure customers have a positive experience with our business. Excellent customer service creates loyalty, creates customer retention and ultimately brings in repeat sales and revenue.

It also establishes an avenue for referrals. These word-of-mouth endorsements are significant and need to be based on a healthy relationship.

One of the customer challenges of any business is the understanding of who your customers are and quickly providing the solutions and service they require; how and when they want it. Today, new technology is at the heart of providing customer service solutions that align with our new real-time service environment.

Over the years in the building of Mercury Security, I listened and made it a priority to know our customers and what is important to them. It is critical for businesses to understand customers’ concerns to offer them help and solutions.

I firmly believe that companies often fall into the trap of chatting about how good they are at providing excellent customer service without delivering on that promise. What is at the core of their superb customer service? You want employees who enjoy their work and understand your business. However, they also need to be conversant with your company’s approach to customer service so they can respond at the moment.

There is a hierarchy in most organisations regarding the authority to act and make decisions. However, it’s essential that our customers do not feel as if they are being passed from one person to the next in their attempt to get a problem resolved. Successful organisations empower their Department Managers with standards. They are then passed down to Department Leaders who are allowed, with authority, to work within those standards to provide a positive customer journey and experience.

Businesses must take steps to ensure that employees who do not have as much authority have easy access to someone who does to facilitate a faster response when a problem arises. In some cases, it could be a straightforward matter where a front-line employee can use common sense and respond to a customer without managerial support. Here at Mercury Security Management, we recognise this and invest in the training of our employees. Training sessions with various scenarios that might occur during the day ensure that employees are as prepared as possible to assist customers.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and this makes it easier for customers to do business without the need to interact with someone in person or on the phone. I believe from a profitability and efficiency standpoint; this can free up personnel to focus on other essential tasks.

However, I also firmly believe that productivity comes at a cost if companies fail to maintain open communication channels for customers to ask questions, provide feedback and share their thoughts on your business. Relationship building is key.

Companies in today’s fast-moving world must make the most of every opportunity to initiate an open conversation with the customer about their experiences. During which, it is crucial to inform customers about the new tools that are available and learn how your customers feel about them.

Here at Mercury Security Management, we are constantly seeking ways to improve how we operate and ensure our customers have an excellent experience with us.

I believe we can all learn from each other. 

With this in mind, what are your thoughts? What do you think makes good customer service? How do you ensure your customers have a first-class experience with your business?