Many times I have contacted WordPress companies with questions before buying the product. More times than I care to admit, I have heard silence.
A handful of times I went through with the purchase, but my loyalty is being tested. I’m inclined not to buy again if I don’t get much after-sales customer service.
Simply put, buying from someone who isn’t responsive from the beginning likely means they won’t be responsive after the sales. Or, at least, that is the perception I have.
How about you?
My point here is that communication matters immensely. Our soft skills matter a lot.
If you have good soft skills, that will solve a lot of your sales problems without coming across as slimy.
If you have wondered why someone in your field might do better in their business, it may have a lot to do with their soft skills, their ability to communicate.
Today, we are going to discuss some areas where you can leverage a major advantage as a web care consultant.
Customer Service
The first way a web consultant can leverage advantage is with customer service.
Customer service, these days, seems to be the most undervalued area of business. Everywhere you turn, businesses are cutting back or eliminating customer service.
Many businesses are replacing customer service with automation.
Fewer things are more infuriating than talking to an automated system on the phone and the system cannot understand when you say “representative – r-e-p-r-e-s-e-n-t-a-t-i-v-e.”
How about a chatbot that fails to get you the answers you need on a website?
Where I live, fewer people use a human cashier at the store. These days, they check themselves out. I have gone into stores in recent months and not even seen more than a couple of store employees.
When did we think it is a good idea to shortchange customer service? Customer service is not a software or plugin.
Rant over.
Why is customer service so important? Take a look at this quote from Jesse Short at HelpScout,
“Research shows that a customer is four times more likely to switch to a competitor if their issue is service related, as opposed to product or price related. Conversely, 86% of consumers say a good customer experience can turn them from a one-time buyer to a loyal customer.” Source
There are four things I think we as web care consultants can do to help ensure excellent customer service.
Email Newsletters – If you run a web care business, have an email newsletter for your customers. You can encourage them to sign up so that you can send them information on updates, industry news, and tips. Having an email newsletter will establish an ongoing relationship with your customers and help nurture and support your customer service efforts.
Answering Pre Sales questions – Goodness. There will always be pre-sales questions. Make sure you have an easy way for potential customers to contact you via various channels.
Celebrating your clients’ wins – This might not be something that you think about. Your clients will have wins. Celebrate those wins. You can call it Permissionless Co-Marketing as described in this thread by Amanda Natividad
There’s a marketing tactic you’ve never heard of.
But the best marketers are already doing it.
It’s called Permissionless Co-Marketing.
Here's what it is and how to do it:
— Amanda Natividad (@amandanat) January 10, 2022
Doing what you say you will do – Doing what you say you will do is the essence of integrity. If you say you are going to do it, do it. So many freelancers fail to do this basic thing and you will have a competitive advantage if you do.
Resources:
The Ultimate Guide to Small Business Customer Service
Communicate with clarity
The second way website consultants can create an advantage is by being clear with their messaging.
One of the biggest problems many people have is being clear with their messaging.
I have done messaging audits and a large part of the project centers on explaining issues with the company’s clarity.
Clarity and being clear is making sure that your customer understands you completely and that you understand them as well.
Ensuring clarity may mean asking questions, listening closely, and communicating things you might be tempted to think are already understood.
Making assumptions does no one any good.
Clear communication for your team as well as your client should be a priority as well as being clear about your company message.
Making it easy for clients to buy and work with you (process)
Finally, a web care consultant can create an advantage by doing what he or she says they will do.
Most of the time, I hear business owners talking about chasing money down for invoices, etc., and to be sure, it can be a major problem.
However, the other side of this story is that it can be hard to work with businesses like ours.
Problems usually include making it hard to make a payment, not having a detailed process, and not having a system in place for managing projects.
Sure, some business owners want to micromanage the process, but the good customers need, want, us to lead them in our process.
It is always good to have a refined process for how you work and receive payments. It shows you are professional and the client never has to worry about what is next.
Wrapping it up
There are many web care consultants in the market, so standing out with a competitive advantage is crucial.
And sometimes, the way you have an advantage is as simple as having better soft skills than your competitors.
Soft skills are easily nurtured and learned. Treat your customers like people, like humans, and it will go a long way to help your business.
Have soft skills helped you in your business? Let us know in the MainWP Users Facebook Group.
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