Customer Service: Knowing What Works and What Doesn't

There are no hard and fast rules in Customer Service, only best practices. Many have tried and experienced rewards for doing this right. There are best ways to do this and there are wrong ways.

Now, we learn what works and what doesn't!

What Works, What Doesn't!

Saying you don't know just won't hack it with Customers.

It's better to tell them you will find out or seek out the answers.

Don't tell Customers that it is not your job to even listen.

Tell the Customer you can help or find out yourself.

Don't do a hand-washing "that's not my fault" speech.

Tell the Customer what you can possibly do for him however insignificant this action may be to you. This also means that saying you can't do anything about the issue is a definite No-no.

A simple apology can calm a Customer down better than actually telling him to calm down.

Don't even use the old "I'm busy right now" excuse.

You might find out the hard way that people can really be very creative in finding "painful" and "nasty" ways to get your attention.

If the Customer writes a letter, respond with one.

Do give the Customer a call if he or she clearly indicates a phone number and a request for a call. Don't ever ignore a written request for assistance or complaint.

Most of the time, people who find time to write will find time to give another copy of the letter to someone who can take legal action.

Document Your Customer Interaction and Learn

Document all your interactions with Customers. You will find out that within a year, most Customer concerns can be addressed with a simple "Frequently Asked Questions" or FAQ brochures and pamphlets. This is the reason why websites are making FAQs a distinct page.

You can also use autoresponders to make a more uniform content but personalized approach.

Study this option and make it available to all your frontline people.

Clearly, we intend to delight our new Customers and make truly loyal friends with our present ones.

Being proactive and finding ways to help and satisfy customers rather than being passive will generally be a good yardstick of whether or not something is good for the Customer or not.

You can read these lessons and recite them well, but it is in truly putting these lessons in action can you really benefit from them.

If we truly practice what we learn, we tend to act them out of habit.

Actions can truly shout louder than words.

Our body language will show this to be true.