Customer service is vital to competing successfully. In the past, those who did business with companies most often chose only which businesses they did business with depending on the price, or simply the product or service given, but today’s more dynamic customer experience is no longer the main driver. Great customer service drives an incredible customer experience, especially if your support staff goes beyond just responding to customers’ issues and toward anticipating potential customers’ issues as well. A great support strategy is one that makes customers feel like they’re valued partner, not just a number.

As one manager put it, “The days of just saying ‘I’m sorry’ are over.” Great customer service involves being able to say “I’m sorry,” even when customers have been rude, unprofessional or have behaved in a way that would make other customers want to buy from someone else. As the saying goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it!” And unfortunately, fixing things that are already out of kilter with today’s customers won’t help you much in the long run.

One reason that customers get mad at support teams is that they feel that the organization as a whole does not care about them. It’s either the managers are too busy addressing the needs of the company’s big shots or they don’t have enough patience to listen to the little guys. Either way, you’ve got unhappy customers and a whole lot of frustrated employees. If you want to avoid angry customers and impulsive customers, you need to ensure that your customer service teams understand your customers’ needs and expectations. One great way to do this is to offer training sessions on how to best serve customers and provide an outstanding experience for them.

Many organizations are actually doing this already with their customer service departments. The employees receive training on how to deal with different customers and how to do things better every time. This is a much better customer experience for all and will keep them coming back in the future.

Once you’ve set your customers up with a good customer service policy, it’s your responsibility to make sure that your employees meet those expectations. Make sure that every employee knows that they need to go the extra mile when it comes to customer service. It’s easy to come up with high expectations for customers. It’s much harder to live up to those expectations. To make sure that your customers are always met with respect and courtesy, make sure that your employees are doing everything in their power to make sure that they are fulfilling your customer service expectations.

Automated systems and in-person customer service may be the best way to keep your customers happy. However, it doesn’t do much to protect your customers’ needs and wants. You have to make sure that your employees are not only following your policies but also taking steps to help your customers maintain a good experience.