Customer Service Mistakes
 While
most businesspeople agree that customer service is an important factor
in business success, so many businesses get it wrong. While good
customer service is not a guarantee of success, bad customer service
will absolutely kill your business.
5 Customers Service Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake No. 1 - Failure to Respond
When
your customers makes an attempt to contact your business, they expect a
response within a reasonable time. You need to come up with a way to
track customer service issues, and make sure that every inquiry from a
customer gets a response as quickly as feasible.
There are a couple of things you can do to
help avoid this problem. The first is to have an e-mail address
dedicated to customer service.
Many new businesses,
especially one-person operations, have one e-mail address that handles
all of their business. The mailbox quickly becomes loaded with
messages, and it gets easy to lose track of which issues have been
resolved. You should also develop a customer service log. As
inquiries and issues come in you record them into the log. Every time
something is done to resolve the issue, it is also recorded. By keeping
a log, you can track any open issues to make sure they get resolved
quickly.
Another advantage of an accurate customer service
log is that it gives you a record of complaints and issues. You will be
able to see if there are recurring issues that you can address. That
way you can take steps to avoid further problems in the future.
Mistake No. 2 - Failure to Understand the Problem
One
of the first things you need to learn when working with customers is to
listen. Too often people who handle customer complaints start
formulating their response while the customer is still talking. They
never really understand what the customer wants, and then are surprised
when the customer gets frustrated.
Sometimes all the
customer wants is for someone to listen to their complaint. If they
feel that they were heard and understood they will feel like the issue
was handled well. When you are busy thinking about how you are going to
respond, you are focusing on yourself and not your customer.
When
you are talking with a customer you should stop what you are doing and
focus on what they are saying. Don't focus on what you think the issue
is, focus on how the customer sees the issue.
When you take
the time to learn what is really bothering your customer you can start
to fix the problem, not just treat the symptoms. You will not only make
this customer happier, you will avoid future problems from other
customers.
Mistake No. 3 - Passing the Blame
 Your
customers do not care whose fault a problem is. All they care about is
that their problem is resolved. You need to make sure that whoever is
handling customer service issues works to resolve the problem, not
worry about whose fault it is.
By playing the blame game,
all that is accomplished is to make your customer begin to wonder if
your company can adequately handle their business. They begin to think
that they may be better off taking their business elsewhere. You need
to make sure that your company is focused on resolving issues quickly
and effectively. There will be time later to determine whose fault a
problem is.
Mistake No. 4 - Failing to Respect the Customer
Have
you ever dealt with a customer service representative who made you feel
like they didn't want to have to deal with you? How did that make you
feel? That is how your customers feel when your employees talk down to
them.
One important point that all employees need to
remember is that without the customers, there is no business. How you
handle customer service issues is a reflection of your opinion of your
customers. If you value their business, you will treat them with
respect. If you treat them like you don't want to be bothered, you soon
will have no customers, and then you won't have to hear their
complaints.
Mistake No. 5 - Poor Employee Training
It is critical that you train all of your employees to deal effectively
with customers. Train them not only through classrooms and seminars,
but also through the example that you set. You need to let everyone
know that you will not tolerate poor customer service.
You
will not be able to teach every employee what to say in every
situation, but you will be able to teach them the attitude and respect
that they are to show every customer. Once they have that, your
customer's will have a lot more patience while they wait for the issue
to be resolved.
Your business will not exist without your
customers. Avoid these customer service mistakes and you will be on
your way to a more successful business.
Points to Keep in Mind
- Without customers you do not have a business.
- Customers expect a response within a reasonable amount of time.
- You need to set the example of how you want your staff to deal with your customers.
- Your customer does not care who is to blame, they just want the issue resolved.
- Take the time to listen to what the customer's problem is before you start to formulate your response.
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