If Sales get customers, and Service keeps them, you probably have your work cut out for you.

New sales still aren’t booming. So it’s as important as ever for contact center agents to do all they can do to  keep current customers.

Here are three ways, recommended by Zack Urlocker, COO of Zendesk, to keep more customers loyal:

1. Let customers communicate they way they want to do it. Don’t force customers out of queue by repeating your website during their hold time. If they called, they want to talk to someone. Still offer several channels for contacting you so customers can choose – and keep them staffed according to demand.
2. Apologize appropriately. Say, “I’m sorry,” not “I’m sorry you feel that way.” Then move on to a solution. Agents want to give sincere apologies for inconveniences, but not dwell on them.
3. Stop problems before they start. Don’t wait for more customers to tell you about issues if you see a pattern after a few reports of a problem. Reach out, explain what’s being done to fix things and the time frame customers face.

Tags: customer apology, workforce management, Zack Urlocker, Zendesk