Ken Blanchard, the famed American author and management expert, once said that “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Well, as it so happens, customer feedback is not possible without customer interaction, and it is for this reason why customer interaction should be at the top of your priority list. 

Granted some of these interactions will be pleasant, others may actually be the exact opposite. Nevertheless, as long as there is some interaction, be it good or bad, you will be provided with information about how you can improve your business, going forward.

Never assume to know what your customers are thinking of you, regardless of how well your business is doing. Do not underestimate how important it is for the customer to know that their opinions are important to you.

With this in mind, here are four ways that your business will stand to gain from customer interaction.

Better Customer Satisfaction

The better the customer satisfaction, the more successful a business is. Knowing how to create a positive customer experience is paramount to your business’s success. Customer satisfaction cannot be achieved in a vacuum. Only by interacting with your customers will you obtain the necessary insight to make things work better.

Each of these customer interactions will not only provide you with insight on that particular person, but it will count as yet another definite data point to your customer base satisfaction, as a whole. 

Better Customer Recovery

While nobody wants to deal with customer recovery, everybody who has ever worked in customer service has had to face an angry customer at one point or another. Customer recovery, for those of us who don’t know, is the art of trying to convince a disgruntled customer from leaving your company and going off to work with someone else. 

Your employees may not want to do this sort of work but it is an integral part of the process of customer interaction, nonetheless, and one that provides multiple benefits. Listening to their problems and concerns will probably get them back on board, but it will also provide you with the necessary information to handle the next similar encounter better.

Increased Employee Morale

As mentioned before, customer satisfaction raises with customer interaction. When this happens, another trend picks up – namely an improvement in employee morale and motivation. The fewer angry customers, the better the employee morale. 

And since morale strongly links to motivation, it also translates to improved customer care.  This creates a positive feedback cycle in which everybody involved stands to gain. 

Better Operational Procedures

Once customer interaction is placed at the core of your business strategy, operational procedures change for the better. Everything that has been observed during these interactions will find their way into your company culture. This will  generate more successes, both with your clients and within the company. All that you need to do here is to encourage the adoption of these new procedures. 

Having a dedicated customer support team that knows the value of customer interaction. This is the key to developing an outstanding business culture. It’s the experience you gain when working directly with customers that will help you build your company in a self-sustaining manner.

Until the next time,