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5 critical components MSPs need to put in place right away

When it comes to the success of your business, nothing ranks as high as customer satisfaction. You can have a great product and a reasonable price point, but these things mean nothing unless you have customers who are willing to pay you for what you do.

And in today’s high-tech, highly competitive, instant gratification universe, making customers happy means you’ve got to do everything right. But nobody does everything right, right? Of course not! But even when things go wrong, if you’re managing your customer satisfaction process well, you’ll know how to respond and turn things around.

Keeping your customers happy is something to be focused on in good times and in bad—and the frequency of satisfied customers grows when you have a well thought out system in place. That’s why we’ve created this handy guide on managing your customer satisfaction process.

Become their trusted advisor

Today’s businesses, both small and medium sized, are enlisting the services of MSPs more and more. In many cases, they’re dependent on your services to run their organization—or at least many aspects of it. Earning their trust and showing them over and over how they can depend on you for all their needs is key to building their loyalty. By demonstrating your commitment to and knowledge of the specifics of their industry, including current compliance and regulations, and by providing solutions for all of their technology or SaaS needs, you become the “go-to” for all things related and thus become the one they trust to advise them—even on services they may not be utilizing as of yet. Think of it as an elevated level of personalization whereby you not only know and respond to their needs, but offer guidance on new technologies or enhancements that may improve their business.

Give them immediate and anticipatory attention

Whether via email, text or phone call, if a customer reaches out to you for any reason the rule should always be to respond immediately. Even if your SLA outlines a specific time period allotted for responses, clients are always impressed when the response time is faster than expected. Remember, nobody likes to wait or to feel that their request, question or issue is not a priority. There’s nothing more frustrating than to be put on hold or to be told you’ll get a response in 48 to 72 hours.

Take your service level one step above by not only reacting with immediacy when a customer needs help or has a problem, but providing anticipatory service. Even if all things are running smoothly, provide regular checkups of their system and a review on the services you’re providing. Anticipatory service strengthens the bond between you and your customers and demonstrates that you’re committed to their goals.

Exceed expectations

Nothing fosters appreciation more than doing more than is expected. Companies that provide more than they’ve promised—even beyond what’s laid out in their SLA—are the ones that build a loyal and long term customer base. If you’re going to be the talk of the town, make sure it’s glowing reports of how amazing your service is and not the opposite.

Survey customers and monitor MRR

The best way to avoid customer churn is to get feedback and be proactive in addressing any complaints or issues that arise. This kind of surveying needs to be done on an individual basis, which allows you to identify when certain customers are at risk and gives you the opportunity to implement changes that may help you salvage the relationship.

In addition to getting customer feedback, it’s also important to record and track customer service phone calls, emails and personal interactions to ensure that proper quality protocols are being followed so you can address any specific quality assurance issues.

Monitor MRR to track performance and stay on top of any growth trends—by doing so you’ll have a constant view of whether or not you’re on track with your objectives.

Make it a team effort

The most powerful part of your customer satisfaction process is your team. They can make or break you when it comes to delivering your service in a manner that brings customer fulfillment. To ensure that each of your team members is onboard and delivering the kind of service you expect, make sure they’re totally “in”—engaged in your mission, aware of what they are supposed to do and how they can go beyond expectations.

A great way to do this is to build KPI’s around their service. Set customer service goals and incentives for your employees and tie theses incentives directly to the level of service they deliver to customers. When you do, your team members will not only know what’s expected, they’ll have a stake in the outcome.

Measure and recognize performance

Using our online employee recognition platform, you can set goals, measure performance and reward your team when they’ve done an exceptional job. They’ll have access to their performance points, be able to see where they rank among other team members and even be able to redeem points they earn for meaningful rewards.

Customer satisfaction is the cornerstone to your success

68% of customers say they’d tell family, friends and anyone who will listen about a bad experience. And most of those people will do so on social media, which means those numbers are multiplied with every connection and “friend” they have.

On the flip side, more than 86% of adults say they’d be willing to pay a little more for a better customer experience and more than 70% of consumers say friendly customer service makes them fall in love with a brand.

There’s no denying the importance of customer satisfaction in any business. Ensure that you’re offering the level of service and attention that will strengthen and build long-lasting relationships by following these tips and get in touch with us for your free trial of our employee recognition program.