The high season is always a difficult time of the year with increased activity and a lot of unknowns. It’s the busiest time of year, and meeting customers’ needs can often be challenging. However, you don’t need to let this uptick in business affect your customers’ experience, and you can prepare now to get ahead.
Summer is the busiest time of year for most rental businesses and can be make or break in many cases. How you manage your customer service - from pre-booking questions to pickups and returns - can determine whether a customer is likely to return to your business in the future or if they will look elsewhere.
So, what are some of the things you can start planning now to ensure that your customer service is on point during high season? Below are eight tips that you can start thinking about.
Take time to train your team
This might go without saying, but it’s important to remember to make sure every team member is on the same page. They need to be ready to answer questions quickly, appear knowledgeable, and know how to treat customers. In addition, you need to give everyone the same training to ensure that procedures and information are consistent across your team.
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Make everyone’s roles clear
When working with a small team, it’s easy for people’s roles to overlap, which works during slower times of the year. However, when it gets to the high season, it can lead to confusion and reduced efficiency. Therefore, you must take the time to clarify what each person is responsible for to reduce any confusion that might appear. For example, you could update your internal documentation with written job descriptions and a training manual.
Hire temporary workers
Now is an excellent time to look back at the most recent high season and consider whether there were times where a couple of extra pairs of hands could’ve been helpful. If the answer is yes, then it sounds like you might need to hire temporary workers during the high season. Not only will this make operations more efficient, but it will also free up time to focus on your business. Having user-friendly software, which requires little training, can help a lot.
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Get ahead of questions
There isn’t always the time to answer customers’ calls and emails as quickly as you’d like. So, it can be good to implement an FAQ page on your website that answers the most common questions people have. These can be ones people ask in-store, on social media, and through calls and emails.
Provide various contact points
Customers need to know that if they need to ask questions, there are multiple ways of contacting you. These can include directing people in-store, customer service numbers, social media messaging, and live chat. You also need to make these visible on your website and in-store so people have easy access.
Simplify your pickup/return process
The pickup and return process is where you’ll typically spend the most time with customers. They will expect the process to be quick and easy, and if it’s not, this can be an issue. You should reflect on the process and see what can be optimized. This could be implementing barcodes and QR codes, preparing orders early, or setting up a pickup/drop off point.
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Go the extra mile
If you’ve taken care of all of the above tips, you might think there’s not much more you can do to provide better service. However, you can always go the extra mile to make a lasting impression on customers. This can be anything from sharing guide and offering discounts. Your customers should know how much you appreciate them.
Accept online bookings
Finally, giving customers the option to book in advance will help to streamline your operations. By allowing them to book in advance, you can reduce the amount of time spent serving each customer in-store or taking bookings over the phone and email. It will also mean you can have more meaningful interactions with your customers.
