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Apr 7, 2017
SkillPath Staff
Ever notice that the majority of negative reviews you read about a company is based upon a customer’s bad customer service experience rather than a bad product? It might be because most companies are wise enough to have a money-back guarantee of some sort. If you’re not happy, they’ll make it good. Even the angriest customers can be placated if you make them feel wanted and heard.
However, if your customer service is bad, watch out. Social media can explode when customer service horror stories go viral. Do you think anyone knew United Airlines’ policy on employees’ families wearing leggings before they kicked a couple of teenage girls off a flight for wearing them? A million tweets later, most people know the story and expressed their displeasure at the airline.
There’s no doubt about it, customer service teams play a critical role in every organization. Reputation only goes so far. What you say and do is the thing your customers remember, and that is what they will tell other folks. Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton, once said, “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
In today’s tough business environment, losing customers to your competition because of poor service is unacceptable. The ability to delight your clients with great customer service is the advantage your organization needs to attract and retain customers.
But the truth is, with organizations facing tight budgets, reduced staff doing more work, and more pressure than ever before to produce results, customer service sometimes get lost in the chaos. Your team is feeling the heat and so are you. But, by taking the time to consider these three timeless customer service secrets, you can insure that the boss—your customer—is pleased with your performance.
It’s easy to deal with people who are just like you. But, when a customer has a personality different from yours—and acts and thinks differently than you do—your job gets tougher. Handling people, especially ones with a difficult personality, often depends on the method of interaction.
Face-to-face
Phone-to-phone
How often have you had a piece of luggage misplaced at the airport and been told, ‘We’ll try to find it’? Or, in response to a query concerning a delivery been told, ‘We’ll try to have it there tomorrow’? One of the great truths of customer service is that people do not care what you will TRY to do—they want to know what you WILL do. There is always something you can do, if only to say, ‘I’ll get back to you by 2:00 this afternoon.’ Keep your customers happy by using positive words … they make customers feel valued. The following phrases are examples that employees should know and use often.
In the real world, sometimes you just cannot honor a customer’s request and you have to tell them “no.” It’s time to learn a new, realistic way to think about complaints and complaining customers and put them in perspective. It’s about offering alternatives, giving the customers choices and focusing on what you can provide—not what you can’t.
Try using this three-step process for saying ‘no’.
The thing is … none of what we have covered is difficult to do. They are skills everyone can learn. The trick is to be able to fall back on them automatically when the situation blows up and the customer you’re interacting with is about to go supernova. However, with practice, it can be done and you will be a customer service superstar!
SkillPath Staff
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