Providing your customers with great customer service isn’t rocket science. All you have to do is remember that it is called customer service, not company service. In other words, you are there to address the needs of the customer, not to run every call through the company policy meat grinder. Great customer service doesn’t really even require that you always resolve a customer complaint according to the customer’s request. What the customer is looking for, above all else, is that you will see him as a real person with real needs, and treat him with respect. Put another way, your customer is looking for a friendly, supportive, professional, constructive experience that leaves him feeling like you made a good faith effort to understand his situation, identify his need, and come as close as you possibly could to addressing it.
With that in mind, here are five helpful hints to keep your customer service experience on track.
1. Start by hiring exceptional people. Companies often put a lot of time and effort into hiring exceptional people in sales and marketing, but too often settle for whoever walks in the door for customer service. Remember, a great customer service representative (CSR) can make you a ton of money over time by keeping your customers from dumping you and switching to the competition. Look for employees who are intelligent, articulate, friendly, and creative; you know, people who are “people people.” You will save money on training and make money on customer retention if you start with great people as CSRs. You will have to pay them more, but you will make it back many times over.
2. Always answer emotion with emotion. If a customer calls up with a concern, and they are obviously upset, don’t answer their emotions by quoting from the policy manual. Certainly, company policies will have some impact on the solutions you can offer, but don’t start there. Instead, find a way to acknowledge the emotions of the customer. If they sound frustrated or disappointed or worried, connect with them right there by saying something like, “I know that must have been very upsetting for you. I know it would be for me.” Once the customer recognizes that you are listening to what she has to say, she is more likely to listen to what you have to say when you begin identifying solutions.
3. Always go the extra mile. Maybe the policy manual says you are supposed to escalate this case to someone else for resolution. However, you recognize that in this situation, a more personal response is needed. Maybe the customer is elderly and a little confused, and you have just spent ten minutes building rapport with him that could be wasted if you just hand him off. So instead of telling him it is out of your hands, and someone else will contact him tomorrow, ask him to give you a couple of hours and you will call him back at a specific time. Then negotiate on your own with your escalation supervisor, and call the customer back yourself. You don’t have to, of course, but in some cases, going the extra mile is more than good business sense; it is the right thing to do.
4. If you make promises, KEEP THEM. When you tell the customer the product will be delivered on the 15th, make sure it is there on the 15th. If you make an appointment for a service tech to be there on Monday at 2:00 p.m., make sure he is there on time. Of course, there may occasionally be extenuating circumstances beyond your control. When that happens, contact the customer, make him aware of the delay, explain why, and confirm a new appointment. When you don’t follow through on promises made on behalf of your company, the customer feels disrespected; she also feels stupid for trusting you in the first place. Get it right the first time. You don’t get a second chance to keep your first promise.
5. Two little words: “I’m sorry.” We all make mistakes. You make mistakes, I make mistakes, the customer makes mistakes, the company makes mistakes; we all make mistakes! Your customer understands that nobody is perfect, including your company. What your customer DOESN’T understand is why you won’t admit your company made a mistake and just apologize for the inconvenience, disappointment, and aggravation your mistake has caused. From your point of view, maybe the cause was a labor dispute or bad weather in Memphis or a shortage of power supplies in Indonesia. From the customer’s point of view, his order was messed up, end of story. He doesn’t want a lecture on labor policy or meteorology; he only wants to hear you say, “I am so sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Miller. We just underestimated the demand for that model and our stocks were depleted before your order could be filled. Please accept our apologies. I am going to waive the shipping charge on your order and overnight it to you this afternoon.” If your apology is genuine, you probably don’t even need to waive the shipping charges, though that would be a great face-saving move for your company. Remember that extra mile thing.
Remember the Golden Rule of Customer Service, which says, “obey the Golden Rule.” You know what I mean: Treat other people the way you would like them to treat you! When the shoe is on the other foot and you have to contact customer service, how would you like to be treated? Just do that and your customer will receive what he wants most: to be treated like a person instead of problem.
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October Customer Service Tip of the Month – Phone “Face” Time
If you work in a customer service call center, then you are already well aware that your vocal skills and tone of voice are extremely important in building trust and rapport with your customer. We don’t realize how much we depend on body language, facial expressions and eye contact to help us communicate until we don’t have it any more. However, here is something you can do to make up for it a little bit. Whenever you are on a call, allow your body, gestures and facial expressions to integrate into your conversation as if you were face to face with your customer. Of course, they can’t see you, but they will hear a difference in your tone of voice! You see, it is only natural for us to communicate with our entire bodies. When you repress the physical aspect, assuming that there is no use in smiling or waving your hand to make a point because it can’t be seen, you also suppress some of the normal energy that is released in your voice. As a result, you don’t sound quite normal. Go ahead and let it all hang out. Put a mirror in your cubicle if you want, just to check and make sure you don’t look like a zombie. People who sound like zombies are not usually very effective as CSRs.
