Contractors may have noticed that the customer service they receive from small businesses is not always as good as they would expect it to be.
In fact 81% of small firms have admitted that their customer service is not up to scratch, even though the majority of them believe responsiveness drives their business decisions. Furthermore, 52% think they need to improve their overall communications with both current and prospective customers.
48% of SMEs said the best way to meet customer needs was to find a happy medium between staff resources and skills. 41% of decision makers said they wanted to be able to access staff at times that were convenient to them, whilst 39% said that customer service could be greatly improved if customers could access an expert when they needed one.
Being unable to access to the right person at the right time has long been a common gripe from people who phone customer service helplines. 34% of SMEs think the answer to the problem could lie in allowing staff to work more flexible hours.
Michael Bayer, the president of Avaya EMEA, the company that conducted the research, said that companies have to go the extra mile when it comes to providing customer service. Consumers have a vast array of similar companies to choose from and if they suffer a bad experience, it’s not difficult for them to move their business to a competitor.
He went on to say that it was interesting to see that SMEs are prioritising customer service, responsiveness and relationships. It’s imperative that businesses can communicate effectively with their customers in today’s fast-moving global business world.
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