Customer service standards all companies should have In a recent article published on the Business 2 Community website, contributor Spencer Frandsen discusses the importance of setting customer service standards. Frandsen says that all companies should strive to: Be appropriate – Customer complaints are inevitable—even for the most successful businesses—so it's imperative that your customer service representatives know how to handle unhappy customers appropriately. This involves listening to the customer, apologizing and offering a solution to his or her problem. A little bit of empathy can go a long way when it comes to customer service interactions. Be on time – Businesses should be proactive about providing excellent customer service. This means adhering to any promises they've made to their customers. If a product or service is supposed to reach the customer by a certain date, it's important to ensure that it gets there on time. These proactive measures will prevent your customers from having to complain in the first place. Be precise – "Customers want exactly what they asked for. If you advertise a product or service at your company that the customer desires, your customer expects to purchase it easily from you," reports the source. "However, if you repeatedly say afterwards that you don't have what you advertised, a customer can feel that your company is not trust-worthy." One of the best ways to guarantee that your customers are receiving superb service is to outsource some or all of your customer support operations to a contact center based in the United States. At customer service outsourcing companies, representatives are highly trained to deliver excellent customer service on a consistent basis.