If you have a business that offers some of your products or services to people of the senior population, there are a few things that you might want to do or change so that you’re able to give the best possible customer service to this demographic. So whether you’re really targeting people in senior living facilities or you just need to get better at interacting with an older audience, here are three tips for providing better customer service to senior citizens.
Practice Patience And Respect
When speaking with anyone from a customer service perspective, you’ll want to have your customer service representatives practice patience and respect. But when they’re working with older people, they’ll need to take this effort to the next level.
For many seniors, it can be hard to hear or understand customer service reps, especially if they are younger and don’t know how to explain things well to people who are coming from a different background than them. So when you’re training your customer service people on how to speak to older customers, make sure you reiterate to them that they need to be patient and respectful, even if they are feeling frustrated and things are taking more time than they otherwise would. By doing this, your senior customers will feel respected and cared for by your staff.
Ask Questions To Help Them Understand
After your customer service staff has finished speaking with an older customer who’s had an issue, one of the best things that they can do is to ask questions of the customer to make sure that they understood everything that was discussed and what steps need to be taken next.
To do this, try to train your staff to nicely ask the customer to repeat back to them what they discussed and what they think will be happening next. If they can’t do this adequately, your customer service rep should go over everything again. This will also give your customer service reps the chance to further clarify and make sure that your customers leave this exchange having felt heard and having had their problems resolved.
Offer Coupons And Discounts Regularly
When people have a problem with a product or service that you provide, having your customer service reps fix this problem is the bare minimum that you should be doing, especially in the eyes of your older customers. Knowing this, you should be prepared to offer some kind of coupon or discount on a regular basis to older customers who need additional help and support. This will help them know that you value their business and ensure that they come back to your business in the future as well.
If you know that your customer service staff needs to do better when interacting with your senior customers, consider using the tips mentioned above to help them use strategies that will be effective.
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