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Previous: Catch Credit Problems Early By Janet Attard What's the dumbest thing you can do with your 800-number customer support phone line? Have the customer support line linked to a recording that tells callers to go to the web and fill out a form to send you email. What's the worst thing you can do when an irate customer chastises your company? Interrupt the customer. Raise your voice. Don't let the customer finish any sentence. Be sure the customer knows how annoyed you are because they dared to question your company. What's the stupidest thing you can say to a customer who ultimately realizes the problem was their own mistake and wants to continue doing business? Give them a snotty reply like: "Well, I'm not sure I want your business, now." Are there really companies that make such egregious customer service mistakes? Yes, and they're usually small or micro-sized businesses with just a handful of employees, or businesses where the owner is the only employee or the employee who handles customer support. The mistakes above, for instance, were all made by one small business. I know about them because I was the irate customer. The unfortunate thing for that small business is that in addition to losing me as a customer for their service (which costs about $500 a year), they lost something they hadn't considered: future referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations. Now, if I were a typical customer of this company, I might know a handful of other businesses that might benefit from their service. But, then I'm not the typical business person. So, what the company lost out on due to poor customer support is the possibility that I might someday recommend their service to the tens of thousands of people on my mailing lists or blogs, or to the 2 million people a year who use the BusinessKnowHow.com website. The right way to handle an irate customer So how should that small business have handled the situation? How should you handle similar situations in your business? First, if you do business on the web, have a way for customers to make a phone call and get a human to respond. If you don't have someone available to answer the phone at all times, have a recording that tells callers when they can get a real person to take their call. Give them the opportunity to leave voice mail, and be sure all calls are returned within one business day (or sooner). Second, If a customer calls up and chastises your company, don't take offense. Don't be nasty. Don't go ballistic. Instead make the first words out of your mouth, "I'm sorry you're having a problem with [repeat the problem they expressed]. I'll be happy to help you with that…" Then, ask the customer to explain why they are unhappy. Repeat the problem back to the customer to be sure you have it right. Then, give the customer the information - or whatever is necessary (including a refund) to solve the problem. When everything is settled, recount exactly what will be done, the date it will be done by and tell the customer again that you're sorry they had a problem. The result: unless you are selling a defective product or service, or the product or service is not worth the price you're selling it for, you'll wind up turning most of your unhappy callers into satisfied customers who order from you again and recommend your company to their friends and associates. Posted by Janet Attard on May 28, 2008 at 9:01 AM | Comments (9)Comments Thank you for all your helpful information. Posted by: Eleanor DeVoe on May 28, 2008 at 10:48 AM I liked your article. It is so unfortunate that businesses don't realize that customers are their life line. No Customers=No Business. I've had experience with this sort of nasty behavior with a previous employer. When our customers would call and need an answer regarding their order, this company would act like it was an inconvenience to them. It was pretty pathetic. No business large or small will make it very long without satisfied customers. I've recently started my own small business and one of my commitments to my customers is that they will receive the best customer service they've ever experienced. They may become dissatisfied at some point, but they will always receive the respect and open ear that they deserve. Posted by: Tiffany Ballard on May 28, 2008 at 11:02 AM It's always a great idea to revisit the basics and this topic is one that is critical to master from the top down and the bottom up. Everyone in the company is responsible for customer service. The big buys botch it often enough and most of their wounded customers see them as too big to fight but the small business can take these issues and fix them easily thus exceeding the customer's expectations, which are usually based on bad experience with the big guys. You can be small business but you can give big service and make it the best the customer ever gets, even if it's because you make a mistake. Posted by: Patricia kearns on May 28, 2008 at 11:08 AM Very often, the only opportunity a company gets to really impress their customers is when the customer has a problem and needs help. These opportunities should be seized as a way of stimulating positive conversations amongst your customers. Unless it's a high value product or service with dedicated account managers, most customers don't even think about the people within the company supplying the product or service. The company is unremarkable. The most interesting "stories" are created not when a product does what it's supposed to do but when someone experiences excellent customer service. I've never used Zappos.com but they have created a buzz around their customer service. Their product is unremarkable but I have seen recommendations for their company on the basis of their customer service alone. I have no affiliation with Zappos.com. Posted by: Russell Cooper on May 28, 2008 at 11:13 AM Very helpful information. I plan to use this information in our next team meeting. Posted by: Jeff Lyon on May 28, 2008 at 11:23 AM Right on the mark. As a small business owner, I can get frustrated and not handle a customer properly. I should know better but need reminding. Posted by: sam G on May 28, 2008 at 11:49 AM Thanks for the advice. It is my opinion that some companies particularly ones at the start up or early days stage are often so driven in developing new customers that they lose sight of creating the necessary supports for existing customers. This can more easily happen in my opinion where a young company has experienced high levels of growth in the early years. In other words most of their planning focuses on growing the business with little thought or monies invested in consolidating that very growth. Posted by: BTB Management, Sales and Presentation Skills Training Ireland on May 28, 2008 at 1:10 PM Excellent Posted by: Christian Peereboom Voller S. on May 29, 2008 at 7:50 AM |
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Disclaimer
The information compiled on this site is
Copyright 1999-2008 by Attard Communications, Inc. and by the individual authors. |
Excellent advice. I'd miss your articles if you stopped for any reason. I regularly use at least one on my sales calls -- leaving it with new prospects. Thanks.
Posted by: Stan Spiegel on May 28, 2008 at 10:33 AM