As consumers, we really know good customer service from really bad customer service. We encounter both everyday from the restaurants we eat at to the dreaded technical support calls we are forced to participate in. The worst is cable, but I digress.

One customer care call that I don’t mind dealing with is Apple Support. It’s a great feeling when you need help and you know you are calling one of the most efficient customer call centers, pretty much on the planet. When I call Apple, I know what to expect and I know not to expect an aggravating ongoing painfully excruciating situation for the next 30 to 45 minutes. Each time I call Apple I get the same amazing customer service care. Many of the standards that Apple has in place can apply to the way many small businesses can run and operate their customer support center (no matter how big or small they are).

From being on with Apple Customer support many times, I picked up 4 best support practices that really stand out from other support I receive anywhere else from other companies. I am going to reveal these 4 standards and how you can relate that to your business to up your level of support and have your customers loving you even more.

More specifically, you’ll discover:

• What you can do to save time for all support questions (strategy 1)
• How you can use your customer’s time more wisely (strategy 2)
• How developing standards will put your customers at ease when they buy from you (strategy 3)
• How you can be so good that you might even be able to charge for your support! (strategy 4)

So let’s dive into…

Right From Apple: The 4 Best Customer Support Practices That Any Small Business Can Apply To Their Customer Support Efforts

1) Pre Identifiers

What Apple does:

Before you can get on the phone with a customer service representative, you need to provide your customer unique identifiers so Apple can better help you. Most of the time it’s the serial number of the product you need help with. Many times this serial number is over 15 characters with numbers and letters and as you probably know, repeating those numbers to someone is annoying and timely. Another hassle is directing people where to find those numbers could also be a struggle. Giving detailed instructions (before people can get served) on how to obtain that information and a place to provide that info is crucial to customer service efficiency.

General Principal:

Any time you can have someone pre fill out information that is necessary in order for you to help them you are doing everyone a favor. You are saving yourself time not having to go back and forth with the customers (and there is a huge margin for error when you do that) and you are saving the customer having to deal longer with support than necessary. Any time you can help the customer with what they need as quickly as possible is a good thing. Having autoresponders or canned messages set up in your business to make support run as smoothly as possible when a customer needs specific help will save everyone time.

You can also work with a third party customer support software that can help you with some standards that you want to put in place before someone can actually get help from you. You don’t want the customer to have to jump through hoops to get support, but there does need to be some base level of information that you require from the customer to help them before they get to the point where they are getting help by you and your staff.

For example, many times product owners have a pulldown of products that the person needs help with. If someone writes your help desk and says, “I need access to my product” if you sell a ton of products, you are not going to know how to proceed to help unless you know what product they are referring to. So having these pre qualifiers, or pre identifiers in place before you start helping them is a huge time saver for both parties.

2) Wait and Learn

What Apple does:

When you are waiting for help, instead of boring customer hold music, Apple provides instructions on different tips on how to use their products. This makes the hold time useful instead of feeling like you are wasting life.

General Principal:

Is there some kind of useful information you can provide to your customer in your help desk correspondence? Not every business has phone support like Apple does, so we need to think outside the box to not provide the equivalent of hold music of Bach Symphony 9. It is possible to provide a link at your footer or signature of other useful tips and places where the customer can get general help answered. This just shows that you over-deliver with your service and you are providing even more service than the person is requesting. It also allows the customer to continue their journey following you and engages them in other aspects of your business. Another win win.

3) A Standard Level of Service

What Apple does:

Every time I call Apple, I get the same level of support no matter who I speak with. It used to be when you called customer service that you hoped and prayed you got someone who had half a brain to help you. Now a days, especially with companies like Apple, there is a knowledge level and customer care level where in the end, it doesn’t matter who helps you. Sure, you might have one dud every now and again, but that’s not the majority. This is another reason I love Apple support, I know whoever picks up the phone, I am going to have the same level of service as I do each time I call.

General Principal:

There should be a level of standard in your business when you correspond with customers. There might be other hands in your business and other customer touch points like business parters or outsourcers / virtual assistants you hire to help you with your customer care. You better be sure that the person who is handling your customers has the same level if not higher standard of customer service with your customers. This is very important and a lot of marketers make this mistake. People should have the same pleasant experience when dealing with your company (even if it’s just you) every time they need assistance with your support desk.

High level of support is the standard these days. Companies are realizing the power of social media and if they deal with the wrong person the wrong way, they could be in for trouble with that person bashing the company publicly  on social media. Anyway, that might be beside the point, but as many automations and standards you can put into place when it comes to support, the better. The added level of customization and going the extra mile is all gravy on top.

4) So Good They Can Charge Money For Help?

What Apple does:

Apple charges for special and additional customer care. It’s called Apple Care.

General Principal:

Obviously we live in a world where we can’t really charge for the basic level customer care. But, if you have a type of service where if someone buys and there is more to learn in addition to the material you are providing, then that justifies charging for the additional service someone might need. If you put out a product, normally, you don’t really embed too much additional cost for customer care because the likelihood of each person who purchases contacting you 3-4 times is very small. However, there are probably costs associated with additional help people need so you should consider adding a fee for your time and energy for that extra care. Of course, this goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, the support has to be top notch in order to justify the additional fee. By top notch, it means that the customer can reach you at all times of business hours and there is some preferential treatment involved over the regular basic care.

Apple is a great model to follow for amazing customer service. You might not be able to implement all of these in your business but there are definitely some standards that all businesses can put into place immediately when it comes to great customer service.

=> Let’s hear from you. Do you do anything extraordinary when it comes to customer service in your business? Please share it here.