Good customer service is considered a valuable asset but the reality is that it’s actually a fundamental in delivering a sustainable organization. If you are aware of the following common customer service mistakes and go out of your way to avoid them, you may strengthen your position in a competitive market.
• Untrained staff. It does not matter whether you have two or 200 employees, you must train everyone in the art of customer service. Customer service delivery involves a series of skills. Letting untrained employees loose on your customers is madness…..
• It’s not war. Winning an argument and losing a customer is a dumb strategy. It’s not a competition and shouldn’t be a battle.
• Inaccessibility. If you want to see repeat business, you need to be accessible to your customers. If it is difficult to contact the customer service department or speak to a manager, customers may not return. Too many organizations make it difficult for customers on purpose…a risky strategy for sure.
• Standing by the policy. While the employee who is scared that he or she may lose their job can say “that’s our policy,” customer service representatives and managers should be able to find ways to adapt to build customer relationships. Do away with rigid policies and replace them with empowering guidelines.
• Unfulfilled promises. Do what you say you would do. Simple, right?
• Poor record keeping. Not having up to date information or having incorrect information about the customer is sure to reinforce the notion that they are just not that important to your organization. Taking care of the details is key.
• The runaround. People do not like being passed from one person to another repeatedly or sent from one department to another. Right first time every time should be your mantra. Remember that passing the customer to someone else might result in passing that customer on to your competitor.
• Failure to listen. Customer service representatives routinely do not listen closely to customers. Typically they respond with an answer that does not match the problem because they were not paying attention. Two ears and one mouth – use them in that proportion.
• Forgetting the basics. “Please,” “thank you,” “we’re sorry about the inconvenience,” and so on are simple phrases that cost nothing, take little effort, and win big points.
So there you go. The answers to great customer service are simple. However the execution of these simple elements are anything but simple. But, not investing in these basics is music to the competition’s ears……
Simple Service Secrets
Optimize Blog - May 30, 2016 - 0 comments