I have had customer service on the brain lately. My friends call me the customer service queen. Sadly, it is true. Because I strongly believe that I should be treated with respect by those who are entrusted to represent their companies. Whether it is the person who handles my call on the phone for my business transactions, the person who chases down that size 7 shoe for me at the mall, or even (I cringe), the teenager behind the counter who asks, “Do you want fries with that?“ I expect to be treated courteously and respectfully by those individuals. I also, in turn, agree to treat them well. I have always thought it rude to treat others badly by taking advantage of them in the service industry simply because I can—simply because I am the customer.
As a side note: When you get good service from anyone, let their managers know. It may even take 5 minutes out of your time to do it, but it is worth it to the one giving the service and to their managers. When you compliment others on good service, you help to raise the bar on the standards. If management feels that customers are appreciative of good service, they will work more diligently to hold to that standard.
Lately, I have had many bad experiences with customer service. I often wonder where these companies get their people to answer their phones. It’s enough to make me hurl my stapler across my office. The first voice, (the very first impression you form in your mind of their company), is many times, a person with a too light of a voice, someone with mumbling speech, speaking too fast, or a snobbish what-do-you-want-anyway attitude. I don't like to have to ask the person to repeat themselves at all, least of all three times just to try to understand their name. So, if I had a case to plead with managers everywhere, it would be to make sure to monitor your employees who are in contact with customers on the phone, from time to time. Hold to a strict standard of excellence—you will not regret it.
Once you have gotten past the receptionist, you get the customer service representative. Sometimes you are fortunate to get the one who cares or pretends very well. But, occasionally, you will receive the you-need-us-more-than-we-need-you attitude. I swear! What has happened?? The customer is certainly not ALWAYS right, but every person that they encounter should make them feel as though they are--from the first person who says, “Hello,” to the last person who says, “We’ll take care of that for you.”
I have wanted to write something about customer service for quite a while and I was trying to think about my best story that might be an encouragement to others, when out of left field there came the biggest, ugliest customer service nightmare and landed on my desk THIS MORNING! Great timing, huh? And just when I thought things weren't exciting enough...
We've all had the one nightmare sale--you know, everything from the get-go is wrong. They are very rare, but when it does show up, it works you every step of the way. This is the reason for Rolaids. And when you contact your customer, they take your call by answering, “What's wrong now...?“ Well, this one is definitely it! Things could not have gone more wrong on this job than if I personally would have walked right up to the customer, myself, and lit the purchase order on fire.
Our supplier has had product color discontinued, delayed shipments, product discontinued again, color problems, and finally, after the customer decided to go with something different than she had originally chosen, the shipment arrived so badly damaged, that the customer couldn't touch the box for the ink. This is not an on-going problem with this supplier either!
So, the question is: What more can I do for her?
Answer is:
- Tell her that I am sorry. And that I and the company are going to be there for her all the way.
- I will find out if we have missed the event date. If we have, then we are going to make it right. And by “making it right, “I mean, that financially, she will not be out a dime and I am going to offer her something for a future order--the incentive to keep her. We have established a relationship, and that is important to me. I want her to feel comfortable with me again.
- If we have not missed the event, the supplier is going to get them printed and out the door for us today or tomorrow. We'll work out the details later.
- Acknowledge that “things“ happen. Unfortunately, they just happened to happen to her order. But, it is not the end of the world. We are going to get the product again for her. Her needs will be met.
- It is most important, that no matter how much she rants and raves (if she does), I will keep my attitude upbeat and eager to please. She should feel like she is yelling at a friend.
- I am going to stay on top of this until the end. It will not be found at the bottom of the pile, but next to me until it is over.
**My customer is going to be given every consideration for her inconvenience. I want to deliver the service that she demands--that she deserves.**
I’m going to phone my customer now and I’ll let you know how it goes.
LP