Everything from business school studies to shampoo commercials has relentlessly pounded the value of a first impression into our collective heads. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman related how Americans elected Warren Harding as President on the strength of his square jaw and height, proving the value of a first impression.

Hands down, customer loyalty is the best way you can outdo your competition. It’s no longer about who has the lowest price, but the best service that will keep them coming back. This is especially pertinent for phone service, as about 70% will hang up and never think twice about your business again if they have a bad experience while on the line.

You can use your phone system to help, not hurt, your customers’ collective satisfaction and build a loyal gathering. It’s all about asking for appropriate feedback and having beliefs that align with your callers.

Nowadays, small businesses are held to a higher standard and expected to be on a level playing field with larger corporations. This is in every sense of the word: with their communications, transactions and quality of product/service.

As a small business, you have the advantage for more personalized customer service and quicker turnaround on decisions, so make sure you use that.

But at the end of the day, making your business appear larger can be beneficial. In terms of actually implementing this, here are a few things you can do that aren’t excessive, nor do they take tons of money or time:

Via McKinsey&Company, 75% of online customers expect a response within 5 minutes. Are you prepared to deliver on that expectation? If not, make arrangements to do so, because this is the new reality of the cloud era.

It’s evident from these and other customer service stats and figures that the customer experience has been forever changed by the cloud. Not only have collective expectations skyrocketed, but the need for an “always connected” world means there’s no longer a viable off switch. This means businesses need to focus on innovating digital interactions and understanding how their customers engage with technology – all in the name of creating a supreme experience.

When compared to IT and other telecom industries, Unified Communications (UC) is still very much in its infancy. The way it has evolved has also affected the way customers react to UC and its benefits.

Although telephony and UC are often intertwined and link to a suite of common features such as conferencing and mobility, the true meaning of UC lies in full integration and knowing what your customer really wants – and delivering on it.

This leads us to the question: What do UC customers actually want? It’s not as difficult as you might think. Take a moment to evaluate what you yourself as a customer expect; most likely, you want a product/service to save time, integrate into your daily processes and be cost-effective. Otherwise, why would you use it?

Technology has placed power in the hands of end users like never before. Users now have control to do work both at the office and remotely, as well as send and receive important information through any device at any time. Your employees are no longer chained to office desks.

This perfect storm of robust unified communications and phone system features has contributed to the vast growth of today’s business communications and efficiency. It’s time to keep up, or get left in the dust of your competition.

Make sure you have the best suite of features for your phone system – for yourself and your employees. Let’s dive into them below:

Executing great customer service is a way to differentiate from other businesses and rise above your competition. This is becoming even more important than pricing, as a Walker study shows 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience.

Delivering exceptional customer service over the phone can be just as impactful than in-person, if not more.

Callers’ expectations to receive efficient and helpful phone service is at an all-time high – you’re competing against one-third of consumers saying they’d rather clean a toilet than speak with customer service (via a 2015 Aspect Consumer Experience survey).

That doesn’t mean, though, that it’s impossible to accomplish a stellar customer experience.

When looking into business phone system options, there are plenty to choose from – especially from a small business perspective. From PBX, VoIP and UC, it can be confusing to narrow down the many contenders that have flooded the market.

Either way, having the right phone system is a necessity to making you and your employees readily available for customers and other inquiring callers. Otherwise, your productivity and ability to do business will suffer – and, consequently, those callers will be lost to your competition.

Having the right phone message carries the potential to make or break a caller’s impression of you and your business. Is yours a balanced blend of professional, succinct and informative?

While an effective phone message is as simple as “Hi, this is Sharon, I’m not available right now, please leave me a message after the beep and I’ll be sure to return your call…” there are a few things to consider, such as phone greeting length and what you need your callers to know.

Being on hold has become a run-of-the-mill occurrence – but that doesn’t mean it has to be a bad experience. In fact, according to a study by Stan Rapp and Tom Collins of Maximarketing, 88% of callers preferred on hold messages to other hold options, and 16-20% made a purchase based on an on hold offer.

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to educate and entertain your callers (bundled with the possibility of making that extra sale, which is always a plus).