What if every element of your handmade business, from customer communication to the unboxing experience, could set you apart from others? That's what exceptional customer service does! Join me as I guide you through practical strategies designed to elevate your customer service  especially during peak selling seasons like Christmas and the holiday season. From using personal touches to crafting a memorable unpacking moment, every detail matters to create joy and satisfaction each step of the customer journey.

I share unique insights on how as a crafters or makers you can leverage your natural attention to detail and creativity to stand out in a crowded market. 

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Transcript:

Sarah: 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. In today's episode, I'm going to be talking all about customer service and, in particular, exceptional customer service, which is what you want to be aiming for for your handmade business. So, wherever you're listening and however you're listening, I hope you enjoy. Welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. My name's Sarah Kavanagh. Your host and I started the Thriving Maker to support makers, crafters and artists just like you to grow your creative passions into flourishing businesses on your terms and give you the life that you want. I'm a jewellery designer, maker and started my own handmade fine jewellery business over 15 years ago. I now also help other artisans and makers build their own craft and handmade businesses through marketing and branding and techniques and strategies I've studied, learned and put into practice along my journey. Right now, I want to help you to establish and grow your own design business so it can help support the lifestyle that you want. Think of this as your go-to resource and check in for all things strategy and marketing for your business, along with stories and anecdotes from my life as a handmade entrepreneur. Thank you for tuning in and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. Hello, in today's episode, we're talking all about customer service and, in particular, hello. In today's episode, we're talking all about customer service and, in particular, exceptional customer service, which is what you really need to be aiming for as a small handmade business or as a craft business or as a designer maker. We're coming up to the peak selling time for many craft and handmade businesses, so it's really important to get your customer service nailed before you hit this really busy period. Now, not every business is the same, and Christmas and the holiday season may not be your busiest time. However, it's still really useful to to know how you're going to deliver your customer service and deliver this exceptional customer service, so that you're prepared. So I want to go through what it means to have exceptional customer service and how you can deliver that, and how it's important to build in customer loyalty and go above and beyond what somebody might expect from making a purchase from you, so that they feel appreciated and they get a sense of joy when they buy from you, which means they'll come back.

Sarah: 2:34

So what does it mean when I say exceptional customer service? So customer service is generally how you deal with your customers meeting their basic requirements for delivering your product to a customer. So this could be the packaging, invoicing, that type of thing. But when you're delivering exceptional customer service, you want to be giving a memorable experience, and so your customer comes away with a positive feeling from dealing with you. As a handmade business and as designer makers and crafters, I believe that we are in a really strong position for delivering exceptional customer service. We are craftspeople and designers and therefore have a fantastic eye for attention to detail. We can be creative and think outside of the box and provide a customer service which is more than you would get from the high street or from a generic online store.

Sarah: 3:33

So one thing I think is important to remember is that customers and your audience are buying from you for a particular reason they love your work or they love the ethos behind your work and the way that you make them feel when they see your products, and you need to continue this into the delivery and the follow-up and every interaction that you have with that customer, and you want this experience to be personal, so use their name in your correspondence with them, respond quickly to inquiries or orders and follow up. Let them know what's happening. Don't just take an order and then ship it. If there's going to be a time period between when somebody places an order and when it's delivered, then let them know. Let them know each step of the way. Give them a date when it can be expected. Also, think about your packaging and how somebody is going to open what they've bought from you. How is it going to look when they open it? You want that stage to also be a memorable experience. They've spent money with you. They're going to be excited about receiving what they've ordered, and whether it's a personalised thank you card or it's beautifully gift wrapped for them, whatever it might be, just go that extra mile and think of something that is going to make the unboxing experience just as special as the actual item itself.

Sarah: 5:02

As a small handmade business, as a crafter or designer maker, it's so important to build these strong connections with our customers so that you can build loyalty and they become repeat customers in the future. They'll also pass on the experiences they had with you to friends and family, and that will then bring in new audiences to you. So providing this exceptional customer service is invaluable, and over the holiday season, when you're going to be getting more people coming to your store whether that's online or at a market store you need to be engaging with those people and really providing a service which goes above and beyond just selling them the product. So people will recommend you based on the experience they had with you, not only just the item that they bought from you, but also the service that you gave them.

Sarah: 5:57

Now, quite often people remember things when they go wrong, and this will inevitably happen from time to time, and it's how you deal with this, and sometimes this can be the most positive experience for a customer. So, for example, common things that might happen, especially over peak selling times, are shipping delays or damages in the postal system. Unfortunately, due to the number of items being shipped everywhere, there will be more issues around the holiday seasons, especially with shipping, and so really consider, before you get into the peak peak time, how you're going to handle any of these issues. So, for example, in my own experience, I've had pieces which have been delayed or gone missing in the post, and so it's you really have to communicate with the customer, make sure you're contacting them as soon as they tell you it's not arrived, and let them know what you're going to do about it. Perhaps an item, if it's of a certain value, needs to be tracked or it needs to have insurance.

Sarah: 7:08

It's important to remember that at this time of year, during the holiday season, customers are buying primarily for gifts, and so they will be thinking I haven't got anything now to give to such and such a person. So if you can always offer to send a replacement and ask them that, when it does arrive, if they could please return the original back to you Nine times out of ten, if you're making contact with the customer and communicating with them and keeping them updated on the situation, then they will be more than happy to return an item when it does turn up, if you can send them a replacement. Now, obviously, every business is different. Every product is different. So if that doesn't work for you, take time now to think about how you're going to handle this kind of situation and unfortunately it is quite common, especially during the holiday season, when there's so much being shipped around the country.

Sarah: 8:11

You may also, if you offer a personalisation service, you may from time to time get something wrong there. There may have been a misunderstanding, a miscommunication, and so something isn't quite as somebody expected, and so it's important to also have a process and have a system in place for dealing with those kind of situations and when you offer exceptional customer service, especially when something goes wrong, that customer, that person, is going to be more than happy to sing your praises and to recommend you to somebody else, because in life things do go wrong From time to time. Packages get delayed or something is broken or something is not as expected, and people understand this. And how you deal with it, how you deal with the moments when things do go wrong, that is how you build fantastic customer service. Always remember to keep your customer up to date with the situation, let them know what you're doing to help resolve it and, once it has been resolved, follow up to ensure that they are happy and to get any feedback. Any feedback, positive and negative, is something that you can learn from and you can draw from. Hopefully, it will all be positive feedback because you have gone above and beyond what perhaps they would have expected.

Sarah: 9:39

As a jewellery designer maker, a lot of the pieces I make are wedding rings or engagement rings, and quite often the process of them being commissioned means that sometimes a ring will need to be resized. So one of the things that I'm really keen to let people know is that if a ring needs to be resized, that's absolutely fine within the first year, and it helps to build reassurance with the customer, to let them know that it's fine. If it needs to be changed, that's not a problem at all. They don't have to worry about that, and I just have this written on my website and I let people know when they're ordering that if they've got any concerns about getting the size right, not to worry about it because it can be resized, it's not a problem. And so it's these small things that you can do to give reassurance to a customer and to dispel any doubts that they may have from ordering and buying from you.

Sarah: 10:37

So a few practical tips for you for the holiday season, as we move towards this really big, busy time of the year, and to make your customer service process exceptional, to make it seamless and to make sure that you feel comfortable with your offerings and so that nothing is going to take you by surprise and you're not going to be phased with anything. So a few tips make sure you're prepared in advance for any for the increase in demand, for any increase in demand for your product so this is the actual product itself, but also the packaging materials and create a production schedule, if you haven't already, to make sure that you have everything ready to go and you're not going to be delayed. If someone puts an order in, you have a certain amount of products already made and prepared and also manage customer expectations. Let them know. Let your customers know when your deadlines are for ordering for the holiday season. If something is made to order, clearly communicate what the cut-off date is for Christmas orders and communicate this on your website, on your storefront or on your social media as well. So even if you're showing at markets, if somebody is thinking, oh, I'm going to buy this the week before Christmas if you know you're not going to have that stock the week before Christmas, make sure that you communicate clearly when any deadlines are for holiday deliveries.

Sarah: 12:06

Offering exceptional customer service also means taking care of yourself so that you can give this positive, joyful experience to other people. If you're tired and stressed, it's very hard to be positive to a customer. It will feel like a burden, and so self-care is also important. Set boundaries for your work, especially over busy holiday periods when you may be dealing with lots of orders. So make sure you allocate time for shipping, for packaging pieces, so that you're not rushing to try and send somebody's order out, or if you're at a show, you're not rushing because you might run out of stock. So I hope that's helped to think about customer service for your business and how it can build loyalty and repeat customers for you. And now, as we approach the busy Christmas and holiday season, it's a really vital time for building these relationships and whether it's all good or some mishap happens, particularly with the postal side of things, then how you deal with it will also build customer loyalty as well and give that really excellent experience to your customers.

Sarah: 13:25

Remember your customers are buying from you for a reason. They love what you offer and whatever it is whether it's for themselves or as a gift it has meaning to them. It means something special that they've chosen one of your products. They've chosen to buy from you because that item means something to them. So ensure that the process of buying from you is personal and delightful and that they go away feeling good and ready to buy from you again. You want to maintain this good feeling that they come to you with and you want to assure them at every turn that they have made the right decision. I hope this episode has helped and got you thinking about your customer service and what you're offering your customers. So take a moment now to have a think about your processes. Make sure that everything is in order for the holiday season. So until next time, take care, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye for now.