It is generally said that public has a very short memory. With regards to consumer durables, this effectively translates into the tendency of the consumer to forget about the quality of the product the moment its use is over. Later when the need for the same product arises, the consumer goes to the markets and buys whatever is available. This might or might not translate into the quality product that was previously utilised.
Hence to make customers come back again and again for a product, two things are mandatorily required. They are:
- The product should be of an impressive quality and
- The after-sales service should be excellent.
What is after sales service?
Before the product is sold, the service provided to ensure that the enquiry gets converted into a sale id called the pre-sales service. It is generally done very nicely and with a lot of patience. But after the sale too the customer needs to get service from either the manufacturer or seller. This is called after sales service and can be done in a number of ways like:
- Having a dedicated customer service number dedicated for problems faced by customers.
- Having a follow up team regularly visit the customer.
- Surveys should be regularly conducted to access the mood of the customer with regards to the product sold, etc.
Of all the methods of providing after-sales service, the use of a dedicated toll-free number manned by a company representative is the most effective especially when
- Warranty is to be provided by the manufacturer,
- A service complaint needs to be logged in,
- Any changes made to an existing system need to be documented etc.
The list enumerating the ways in which a customer service can be used is endless. This number ultimately becomes a one point contact between the manufacturer and the consumer. For the consumer too this toll free number is of great relevance for it is the one place he can get any and all sort of help required regarding a particular product.
How to have an effective customer care number
The technology used to facilitate this customer care number service is VOIP or voice over internet protocol. This is a type of phone system which is flexible enough to enable routing of all calls over the internet. It is thus a great tool to provide customer service in the following ways:
- 24/7 service: The ability to provide customer care services 24hours a day 7days a week is of great help for customers who need to be able to call for customer at their convenient time.
- Low-cost call-backs: Being able to call back customers makes for great public relations and with VoIP, these call-backs can be done at a very cheap rate.
- Providing a local number: Today with customer located all across the globe, it is very important to have a local customer service number. VoIP makes this possible thereby also making it cheaper for the customer to call up.
- No unanswered calls: VoIP makes it easier to re-route calls to other agents if the telephone line of one customer service agent is busy. This ensures that no calls made by the customer go unanswered.
The bottom line is that if the customer is happy, it translates into productive business thereby increasing the volume of the business and indirectly helping them attain lucrative profits.