Sure, Miss Cleo could always tell who was a Libra and who was pregnant just by talking to them on the phone, and that guy on America’s Got Talent knew what each judge was drawing even while blindfolded, but your customers aren’t mind readers. Contrary to popular belief, they haven’t taken time out of their days to call in or write to the online help desk seeking information they already know.
What are we getting it? Well, it may be common sense, but it’s also an important reminder that customers must be kept apprised of any news, updates, policy changes or convenient new tools your company is offering. And since we’re fairly certain at least 99% of the population has not yet evolved with telepathic powers, we recommend utilizing your customer support team and tools to do the trick.
The Crystal Ball’s in your Court
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: owners, it all comes down to you. You’ve got to make it a priority to ensure that new policies and procedures are trickling down from you to your employees to your customers, and that it’s all being communicated clearly. Remember that as a patron of your business, it is not the customer’s responsibility to check in with you regularly or contact you to find out about the latest news. It is your responsibility to ensure that every customer is notified.
But you’re not alone. You’ve got a great team of customer support reps behind you. So train your reps to close calls by mentioning updates. For example, you could have them ask customers if they know about new features on the website. You could also put one of your reps in charge of creating new support email templates in Infusionsoft whenever something new needs to be communicated. It may seem like unnecessary extra work that you can’t definitively measure in terms of sales or outcome, but you never know just how much this practice could benefit you.
Real World Example
In fact, a company by the name of GoMobile Solutions cleverly used this practice to their advantage, without anticipating the results. Though its message did not refer to a typical customer support issue, the company decided to promote an upcoming member event by adding a teaser to its default support reply template used in FuseDesk. Before marketing even began for the member event, paid registrations were coming in from that one little footer announcement! This is a great reminder that not every interaction with customers has to do with solving a problem…you too can use your powers for good!
We all know what you turn into when you A-S-S-U-M-E that customers know all the inner workings of your company. And none of us ever wants to hear an unhappy customer utter things like, “I didn’t know that” or “you never made that clear.” So start with your customer support team, notify them of any changes in help desk communications that should be shared and make a few new wrinkles in each customer’s brain because an informed customer is a happy customer. And happy customers spend more and refer new business.