If I simply wrote the word proactive on a blank sheet of paper, some of you might think, “Oh, that’s an acne treatment line of products,” which it is. Their slogan is to stop acne before it ever starts.Prevent a problem before it ever becomes a problem, which is a trait that we in the business world should adopt. Think of all the frustration, time, and effort we would all save if we fixed problems before our customers ever knew there was a problem? We would make our customers happier, and if they are happy they easily become repeat customers; but how do we actually implement a proactive customer service?

First, track your product. Track the sales. Figure out who is buying your product, and then find out how they use your product. If you know who is buying your product, then you will have an easier time trying to cater to their individual needs rather than sitting back trying to guess how to best service an unknown entity. Also, once you find out how your customers are using your product, post the information on your website, e-mail it to your other customers, or better yet, give the customers a place to discuss how they use the product. Company discussion boards and forums are wonderful tools, and just so you know, PhaseWare’s Self Service Center software includes an online forum.

Secondly, track the social networks. Millions of people are on Facebook and/or Twitter and they are always posting updates about everything, including the good and bad qualities of whatever they just bought. What customers write about your product on their Facebook page or in their tweets is often information that they would not give directly to you in one of your customer suggestion boxes. Those social networking sites are viral in the way they spread information, and that can be good or bad pending on what the customers are saying about your product, so keep an eye on their posts.

Finally, communicate with your customers. Let them know what is happening in your business. If you are putting a new product on the market, let the people know. If you are having a sale, let your customers in on it. It is not enough that you just keep tabs on them, but let the consumers know what your business is up to. Let them see what you do when they aren’t watching. The more open you are with your customers, the more likely they are to return for more of your services.

There are certainly far more ways to implement proactive customer service, but these three can get you started; so let’s go stop some problems before they start.