Stratgies for Customer Service

Strategies for Customer Service - Part One - Winter 1997

PROBLEM: I've co-authored a series of articles on the notion that great customer service is more a myth promoted by consultants like Tom Peters than a reality. One of my associates and I have come to this conclusion because of the growing number of bad service experiences we've recently had. And we've discovered that small business services are generally much worse than large corporation service.

SOLUTION: Focus on a number of specific areas to strengthen your company's customer service efforts. They include:

Voice Mail: Your voice mail system is often the first contact that customers have with your organization. If they find it is difficult, they will come away with a negative first impression. These tips might help:

Don't make them ask for a lot of information before they reach a live person. That's too much work for an initial call.
Never allow a busy signal or a cut-off be the payoff for their hard work.
Get back to them in less than 24 hours if you ask them to leave a message.

Communication Skills: Have your reps simply apologize for any problems that occur whether or not they seem valid to your reps. Tell them not to defend your company's 'excellent' service to customers who are upset. Most customers don't have problems so it will only make the ones who do feel worse.

We've learned that reps often won't call back even when they've agreed to resolve a problem. They try to avoid problems and difficult people. So you need to train your people to be personally responsible for solving the problem themselves in a finite amount of time. Set a time limit of one or two days and make sure they're keeping their promises to their customers.

EXAMPLE: I was called in to assist a local amphitheater with their customer service problems. Their ticket lines were slowed by people who had problems with their tickets. Because the box office people were arguing with them, this made everything worse: the lines were slower and the employees and customers were upset.

I created a training program to teach employees how to react in a non-defensive manner and to make every effort to apologize and satisfy each customer on the spot.

RESULTS: The percent of time spent with each difficult customer was reduced by about 60% (from five minutes to two), lines were shortened and the customers and staff felt much less stressed out by the whole process.

SUMMARY: Do whatever you can to show your customers that you're serious about improving your customer service. Repeat business and positive word of mouth will make it all worthwhile and profitable.

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Michael H. Smith, Ph.D.
5801 Leona St., Ste A
Oakland, CA 94605

Tel: 510-530-7900
Fax: 510-530-7922
Email: MHSmith@MichaelHSmithPhD.Com