Using Proactive Service to Differentiate Your Business

Do you want your company to stand out? You can try to innovate constantly, but this is exhausting. It can also be pointless. The minute you hit on a winning idea, your competitors will try to emulate it. Therefore, the advantage you get from innovation is short-lived. 

You can try to show you’re different by offering great service. Unfortunately, your competitors probably have the same goal. Therefore, you’ ll need to take things further. 

How? You’ ll have to move from a reactive to a proactive service model. In this article, well look at how. 

The Shift from Reactive to Proactive Service

Traditional customer service models are reactive. This means that they’ ll respond to the customer when the client reaches out to them. The downside is that this means your customer experiences frustration before dealing with your support team. In some cases, they may not even bother to get in touch. 

Proactive service requires more effort on your part. You need to anticipate problems and reach out to clients before they encounter them. This sounds complicated, but it could be as simple as calling a customer to find out how they’ ve enjoyed using your product. 

Havent’ got the employees to manage this task? You can hire extra capacity cost-effectively by hiring a support outsourcing company. They’ll source and train consultants to proactively reach out to your clients. 

5 Reasons Why Proactive Service Matters

Proactive service matters for the following reasons. 

1. Reduces Customer Effort

One of the leading benefits of this model is that it saves the customer time and effort. You reach out to them instead of having them get frustrated and look for a contact center. This reduces the amount of friction the customer experiences when using your product. Therefore, they have fewer reasons to move to a competitor. 

2. Enhances Customer Experience

Your customer experience is one of the best ways to differentiate your business. You need to make it as positive as possible to build customer loyalty.  Proactive service identifies potential issues before your customer experiences them. You then provide the solution to a problem the client hasnt’ come across yet. 

The upside is that they’ ll know how to deal with it when they do encounter it. Proactive service can be as simple as letting clients know about delays with order processing or notices about an upcoming renewal. 

3. Increases Customer Loyalty

Do your clients feel valued or supported, or do you only contact them to sell them something? Proactive service is a courtesy that has nothing to do with sales. Your intention is to improve the customers’ experience, showing them that you value them. They’ ll appreciate the gesture and are more likely to be loyal to your brand. 

4. Reduces Customer Churn

Many years ago, I worked in a bank. ll never forget what a client told me after I called him because his account was overdrawn. Why is it that I only hear from you when I do something wrong or you want to sell me something? ve never forgotten it because he was genuinely distressed. 

When you reach out to customers proactively, you avoid this from occurring. You also deal with issues before the customer looks at a competitors product. Therefore, the rate of customer success increases. 

5. Sets You Apart from Competitors

Your competitors offer a reasonable product and great reactive service. Simply matching them is no good. Instead, you need to lead the game with proactive service. Your customers will see you as an industry leader because they dont get that type of service anywhere else. 

How to Implement Proactive Service

You can follow these simple strategies to implement proactive service. 

Anticipate Common Issues

How do you foresee problems? You can analyze past customer support tickets to identify common issues. You should also monitor company mentions online. Why do clients regularly reach out to you? Is there a way to get around this by updating or changing your product or service? 

Its pretty much impossible to have a perfect solution. What you can do, however, is to identify the bottlenecks that typically stump your clients. You can then determine whos affected and how to help them proactively. 

For example, if your team finds that customers struggle with installation. You can reach out to new clients to help them set up their new software. 

Leverage Technology

You can use AI-powered chatbots and predictive analytics to provide proactive service. For example, a chatbot can monitor what a customer does on your site. It can use this information to offer useful suggestions. You can also use AI to scan through historical records and predict potential sticking points. The bot can alert your support team accordingly.

Personalized Communication

Sending a generic email blast isnt usually good enough. Doing this could backfire if the customer finds it annoying or irrelevant. You'll need to personalize the messages so they are highly relevant to your client.

For example, you could send a message notifying the client that an item they purchase regularly is on sale.

Customer Education

How many clients fall by the wayside because they dont know how to use your product or service effectively? You could have the best features and still lose customers because they dont know how to access them.

You should create a great knowledge base that consists of how-to videos, articles, FAQs, and even webinars that address common questions. You could make things easy for the customer by having a bot that asks them leading questions to narrow down the advice.

Conclusion

Proactive customer service is becoming increasingly important as businesses try to differentiate themselves in the market. By making the shift, your company can improve the customer experience and build loyalty. Your clients will see your business as forward-thinking and a preferred provider.