Importance of effective communication in maintaining customer relationships
Effective communication has always been the most vital factor in terms of customer and organizational relationship. It also plays an important role in the overall operation of a firm. A good communication with the customers with the customers acts as a cornerstone of every organizational success. The management related employees who are capable of communicating in an effective and consistent manner with the customers can create strong customer base for the organizations. This further helps an organization in increasing its profitability and success related to sales (Shin, Wood and Jun, 2016)
In the current business environment there are many different modes of communication available that are used by the managers and employees to communicate with the customers. These new modes of communication including emails, telephone, texting and messaging. During the process of communication that takes place with the help of these modes sometimes the actual element of communication is lost. This problem needs to be taken care of so that the communication made with customers are converted into profits for the company (Chomvilailuk & Butcher 2016).
The major tips related to the effective communication with customers
- Interrupting in the communication process of the customers can also cause disruption and irritation.The executives need to allow the customers so that they can finish their conversation before they provide the response. This will also demonstrate the respect that they have for the customers with the help of this attitude (Sutton 2013).
- The executives should not use jargons or industry related terms to communicate with the customers. The usage of terms like, ‘the Desk’ or ‘Turnover’ can be understood by the professionals, however, it will hold no meaning for the customer. The marketing executives need to use phrases or words, which are easily understandable by the customers (Goetz 2015).
- Social media is playing a huge part in promoting effective communication in the business today. Poor customer service together with poor response can have a damaging affect on the company’s reputation (Rawson, Duncan & Jones 2013). With the help of social media, the executives could provide fast as well as efficient responses to the customers by providing them an option to contact the company via social media platform. This will also help in speeding the things up at the company end too, benefiting both the business as well as its customers.
- The marketers need to use professional language with the customers and the usage of casual language needs to be avoided (Holliman & Rowley 2014).The message that is to be passed to the customers must be clear.
- The marketing executives of ABC company need to demonstrate courtesy while communicating with the consumers. The use of courtesy mainly depicts high quality levels of customer service from the organization’s side (Khan & Fasih 2014).
- The marketers should always aim at using positive statements with the customers rather than being negative. ABC company always needs to present to the customers the services that they can offer rather than those which they cannot offer (Huang 2015).
- The marketing professionals always need to be careful about the phrases and words that they use and which can create defensive reaction from the customers (Spradley 2016). The customer should be kept in a positive mind-set and the channels of communication keep flowing.
- The marketers need to understand the ways by which the customers prefer to communicate. This is the most important part of the process of communication as ABC Company needs to communicate in such a way which is preferable by the customers (Park, Moon & Lee 2014).
Communication plays a very important part in dealing with the customers and therefore, organizations must make sure that they are communicating with their customers effectively. Effective communication serves as one of the most crucial element of the customer service in relation to every type of organizations. The efforts related to customer service are designed by the organizations in such a way so that it can ensure efficient and prompt delivery of the services and products that are of high quality. The organizations also design the processes which can help them in the recovery of the different issues which are service related. Communication is primarily done with the help of face-to-face interactions, phone conversations and email communications (Rashed and Asil2015). With the same, in today’s world, internet is playing a huge role in increasing customer engagement. The social media platforms in the recent years have emerged in such a manner that they are been used all over the world by the professionals and the business users.
With the same, effective communication serves as the base of every aspect of a business. It can be said as the building block of a firm and helps in keeping the foundation of motivation in the organization. It helps the employees to improve their job performance in case if it is not up to the mark. If the organizational communication with the customers is not effective, it will leave the customers feeling disgusted and the company may also lose the customers for ever. The executives who are placed in the positions related to customer service in the company need to possess strong communication skills and effective skills related to problem-solving. They need to have effective listening skills so that they can respond to the problems faced by the customers in an effective manner. Communication also plays an effective role while dealing with the problems that are faced by the customers and the complaints as well (Schivinski & Dabrowski2016). The focus that is placed by the organizations on communicating with the customers helps in ensuring a long-term success. The effective communication mainly makes sure that the products or the services that are offered by the companies meet the expectations of the customers. The regular communication of the employees and the organization helps in adapting and growing so that they can continuously meet the requirements. The clarity of the process of communication plays an important role for the organization to understand the needs of the customers (Shannahan et al. 2015). Clarity can also be defined as the way of asking questions so that a better understanding can be gained related to situation of the customers. Communication can also help in the reinforcement of sales of the organization by convincing the customers. The implementation of change in the organization is also related to the effective process of communication. Communication helps the organizations to keep in touch with the customers so that they can understand their needs and desires and offer their products accordingly (Huang 2015).
Different modes of communication available for managers and employees
The feedback that is provided by the customers helps in changing the direction of service that is provided by the organization. ABC Company can thereby understand the needs and the desires of the customers with the help of effective communication. The expectations of the customers from the organizations and the quality of the products all depend upon the communication that takes place between the employees and the customers. The companies conduct surveys so that they are able to determine the expectations of the consumers. This will further lead to the change in the offerings of services and products of the organization so that the needs of the customers can be satisfied. The overall feedback of the customers is helpful for the employees who are working in customer service, however, individual feedback that is received by the employees is much more helpful (To, Martin & Billy 2015).
Major challenges are faced by the customer service executives while communicating effectively with the customers. The information related to the customers that are accessed by the organizations and the information about the services and products need to be updated. The executives who are related to customer service need to understand the level up to which they have the authority to solve the problems of the customers (Rawson, Duncan & Jones 2013). The executives sometimes need to face situations where they are not able to satisfy the requests and demands of the customers. These situations can be quite stressful for both the organizations and the customers. The services that are provided to the customers have gained much more importance in the current business scenario (Azmat & Ha 2013). The competition in the market has also increased in the recent times, which has further increased the expectations of the customers. The organizations therefore need to have high levels of communication and be ready to deliver their services to the customers (Zhao et al. 2014).
In today’s world, majority of the communication of the organizations with their customers takes place in terms of a whole set of new and latest technologies. Websites, e-mails, software are some of the major areas in which technologies now is providing important advantages to the businesses in generating loyalties of the customers by improving the customer service. In fact, the communication with the customers in the future will be hugely based on the usage of technological and mobile tools so that the process of communication can be streamlined and options can be provided to the customers. The customers can be provided with the advantage of accessing online information related to the concerns, questions and issues that are common in the scenario.
Major tips for communicating effectively with customers
The internal recommendation that can be given to ABC company is that the employees need to be trained related to the effective ways of communication as has been discussed above. The training will help the employees in improving their communication skills and increase the customer base (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra 2014).
The external recommendation that can be provided to ABC company is that the organization needs to increase the effective communication with its stakeholders and the customers. This will help the company in increasing their profitability and further improve the operations of the organization as well. The usage of technology to receive the feedback of the customers can help ABC Company in gaining customers.
References
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