Do You Offer REAL Customer Service?
Customer Service in America is horrible at best. A few years ago I had the enlightening opportunity to have Don Gallegos come speak to our company here in Utah and he talked about great customer service. Don has a book entitled “Win the Customer, Not the Argument” which is the best customer service eye-opening book I’ve ever read. I’ve made the book the only really required reading for employees at work.
Why are companies always establishing new policies that annoy or anger 99.8% of its customers to take care of the .2% or less sometimes of those that may be the offender? Don’t you know that you have to take care of your 99% plus customer base or they’ll go elsewhere? I think we all know that as customers, but corporate america doesn’t believe that. It’s clear that they believe that we won’t go elsewhere so they can treat people however they want.
Here are a few suggestions to offering REAL customer service, not the current customer dis-service that is what we are currently getting from the corporate giants:
- Don’t feel restricted by policies. If a customer wants a refund after 40 days (10 days past our 30 day refund deadline), just give it to them.
- Requiring a receipt for a return is ludicrous. You have complex systems for tracking inventory, stocking, pricing, serials, etc. yet for me to return something I need to prove that it came from you by showing you a receipt? Please.
- When a customer is frustrated over chat or just isn’t getting it, sometimes it helps to give them a call.
- If a customer is upset, forget the policies. Give them a full refund. Give them extra SANs on their UC cert. Give them a extra time on their cert.
- If a customer is angry that the product doesn’t work like they thought it would (even if it is a known incompatibility), replace it, better yet give them a new product that works free.
- If a customer goes out of their way to write an email and thank us, send them a package with something free.
- Respond quickly to emails and chats. Give customers on the phone the attention that is needed to quickly resolve the problem.
Winning customers centers on the idea that your customers are not just the customers from the moment they walk in the door to your business or visit your Web site, etc. They are the customer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They are always the customer. Companies have started to treat people as one time customers, and not as life-long customers. People are loyal to themselves first and if you don’t take care of them, they will go elsewhere.
Remember:
- People don’t know good service until they get it. When they receive good service they go “Wow,” and make the choice to switch to the new service provider.
- The customer is NOT always right, but they are ALWAYS the customer.
- Don’t take the easy way out and say NO, find a way to say YES.
- Don’t hide behind a policy, do what’s right.
- 99.6% of the customer were good compared to those that were bad, why create policies to hurt those good customers?
- Nordstroms once took back and refunded a pair of tires. Nordstroms doesn’t even sell tires. They won that customer.
- Just because we make a special situation for one person, doesn’t mean that everyone else will want that too! Make that customer happy.
Hey, I just stopped in to visit your website and thought I’d say I enjoyed myself.
I don’t necessarilly agree with everything you’ve written here, but still found it to be a very interesting read. Thanks.
Great, thanks for sharing this post. Want more.
Great post. YOu make it seem so easy to share your experiences. I wish I could do as well in sharing on my blog. I just got it started and sometimes feel stuck on what to share or if it is the right thing to share. what to do?
Sorry for being off topic, but I am just starting my website/blog. Why did you choose WordPress over blogger or any other blog program? I am trying to figure out the best way, since I am not a techy.
Do you think blogging just has to be about writing? Reason I ask is I want to start a photography blog, but I feel I am better at expressing myself with photos rather than write. Should I even start it? With your experience could it work, more pictures, less words?
A good post indeed! That’s the sunny side of your writing, you write in a lucid manner and I have no difficulty to understand what you have said, even though I am a novice. Keep the good work going by continue blogging new and entertaining posts. I have already subscribed to the RSS feed of your weblog and look forward to reading more of your blog posts in the future.
Thanks for the share! I have a question a little off topic. I wanted to start a blog to share my experiences as well as work, but didn’t want it to be too salesy. Do you find your style works best with just sharing?