Are You Offering Good Customer Service?

How would you know?

It’s easy to measure the bad customer service, just review the complaints that come in. But I recommend that you not stop there. I’ve talked with supervisors and managers who have reviewed the complaints, taken action to rectify the issue and believed that by reducing complaints they’ve improved customer service.

This is simply not a good way to measure your customer service department. There are a lot of people who won’t complain if they get treated poorly. They’re just going to go away and not come back – and will probably tell several other people what a bad customer service experience your business provided.

There are many ways to measure customer service, and the best way is by asking the customer directly.

Customer service surveys that combine ‘level of satisfaction’ answers as well as open-ended questions can provide invaluable information to a manager. The surveys I’ve used all have helped me refine training processes, identify issues with a particular customer service rep, and also identify company policy issues that needed to be addressed to better serve the customer.

Surveys can be delivered to a customer in many ways. You can use an online tool that connects to your company website, send an email to a customer list and await responses. You can use a written survey sent via USPS, maybe postcard form to save on postage. If the survey is short enough, then a telemarketing effort would be a good idea. Why? It provides the customer service rep with an opportunity to listen to a customer and to provide additional service should it be warranted. In the end, nothing beats a personal touch. But, if the survey is more than 2 to 3 questions it can become too cumbersome to handle over the phone.

This is a general customer service survey example that you can use to get feedback about face-to-face customer service interactions; adapt it to your needs by adding other questions specific to your company if you wish.

Customer Service Survey

Dear Customer,
Our goal is to provide our customers with the best service possible. Please take a few minutes to complete the following customer service questionnaire. Your comments will enable us to see how we’re doing overall and find out how we can improve.

Customer Service Survey

                                                                                     Excellent  Good  Average Fair Poor

• Staff was available in a timely manner.
• Staff greeted you and offered to help you.
• Staff was friendly and cheerful throughout.
• Staff answered your questions.
• Staff showed knowledge of the products/services.
• Staff offered pertinent advice.
• Staff was courteous throughout.
• Overall, how would you rate our customer service?

Open-Ended Questions

• What did you like best about our customer service?
• How could we improve our customer service?
• Is there a staff person you would like to commend?
• Name:
  Reason:
• Thank you for taking the time to complete our customer service survey.

 

I hope you can see that the combination of ‘level of satisfaction’ and open-ended questions can glean more information from your customers than simply asking if they believe the received good customer service.

Share the results with your customer service team. Ask them for input on how to improve in areas that become known through the survey. Remember, they’re on the front line and know your customers much better than you do.

Difficult Customers

Customers can be difficult. They can be pushy, aggressive, angry, annoyed, and sometimes even obnoxious. A world-class customer service rep is trained and confident in their ability to handle such customers. They understand the importance of being consistent and courteous, while also garnering the respect of their customer.

Here are some techniques you can employ the next time you have a difficult customer:

1. Neutralize your emotions

Do not take a customer’s negative comments or outbursts personally.  Remember, they hear a voice on the phone…they don’t know you.  Because difficult people can be emotionally challenging, the more your emotions are in check, the more you can be in control of the conversation and outcome of the call.  You can do this by committing to being polite and respectful to each and every caller, by having pride in your work and the company, and by not jumping to conclusions.

2. Listen to the caller to control the conversation

If they have reasonable complaints or requests, and are simply stating them in an unreasonable way (raised voice, curt sentences, demanding attitude), respond in a polite but firm manner by repeating their request or complaint.  Example “what I hear you saying is that the blade is not pretty, but is working just fine.”  Use this technique to clarify the customer’s request, but to also encourage the customer to speak in the same manner as you.

3. Offer a solution

Unless a customer is threatening or abusive, you have the ability to solve their problem.  Always respond with an attitude of “we can do this”.    Never blame a co-worker, never offer an excuse as to why something wasn’t done correctly.  Instead, let the customer know that you appreciate that they brought the matter to your attention and it will be investigated to prevent this situation from happening again.  Then, offer the solution to the problem.  It may be that you have to accept the return of a product, it could be that the customer is willing to purchase a different product, it may be that the product is acceptable but delivery time was not. 

Abusive, threatening calls

If a caller begins by being verbally abusive (name calling, derogatory remarks, swearing), in a calm voice state to the customer that if they stop this behavior you are willing to work with them.  But, if they continue to speak to you in this manner, you will hang up the phone.  If the behavior continues, hang up the phone.  No one needs to tolerate being verbally abused.

If, during the conversation, the caller becomes verbally abusive, get the caller’s attention and remind them that you are willing to continue the conversation if they will calm down and speak to you in an appropriate manner.

My opinion is that one warning is sufficient. Confirm your company’s policies and follow them if they are different than my own. I have always trained customer service reps to respond to abusive calls this way, and if the abuse continues, they are to let the caller know that they are hanging up because of their abusive behavior. Then the customer service rep is to note the incident by date, time, customer name and reason for initial call to be filed with the supervisor. This way if the customer calls back and brings in the previous customer service rep’s name, they can be transferred directly to the supervisor.

 

I work better when threatened….

Though this statement is never uttered, the response to potential job loss, to reprimand, to getting caught is to work better. What a shame.

Many people do as little as possible to do their jobs. After the first 90 days its seems that they’ve found the bottom of the range of acceptability and expectations and work very hard to not exceed it.

These are NOT World-Class customer service people.

Instead, there are those who seek the high end of the range of acceptable behavior and expected work ethics -and strive to not only achieve that high end of the range but to exceed it. Thereby raising the bar and level of service they offer to their customers.

It doesn’t matter what the job description says, what matters is how your customers respond after having a conversation with you.

But I’m Doing the Best that I Can!

Really? And is that within your job description? Honestly.

When hired to do a job it is expected that you will put forth the effort to be the best person for the job. This includes utilizing all of the skills you talked about during the interview. As well as learning the new skills your employer has provided training for. As well as learning new skills on your own.

World-Class customer service is all about doing your job – and then some.

It is all about doing the best you can do – and then some.

It is all about putting forth more than 90% of the effort necessary to do the job.

It is NOT about relying on the ‘understanding’ of your manager, your supervisor, your boss.

World-Class customer service requires that you not only put forth the 100% effort to do the job you were hired to do, but also to throw in an additional 10% or 15% or whatever is necessary to exceed your customer’s expectations.

“But I’m doing the best that I can” is not an acceptable response to anyone asking you to do your job. If that is your answer then maybe you need to seek work elsewhere. Just a thought.

Start at the Beginning

One goal of a quality customer service department should be to prevent complaints.  How to do this? The following three steps are a start:

1. Top executives set the tone and expectation by putting forth customer-friendly/customer-focused policies throughout the organization.
2. All personnel involved directly with customers are trained, not only on company policy, but also on communication skills. Skills such as listening, asking appropriate questions, providing enough information to the customer to encourage the customer to engage. Skills related to the how of communicating as well as the words.
3. Staff members must believe that they have a stake in the success of the business. They must be shown through recognition programs, peer appreciation programs and the occasional pat on the back by the executive that their efforts are noted and appreciated.

Customer Service is Dead!

No it’s not! It’s just not what we want it to be, yet.

Yes, the lament has been heard around the world…over and over and over again. And for good reason, too.

For many years, the larger corporations like Verizon, Dell, AT&T and others have sent their customer service departments overseas. Not a bad idea at first because it lowered their service costs. Not a good idea in the end because it also lowered the service to the customer. And, in turn raised the ire of the customer to such a point that instead of a customer service center being cost-neutral it has now become a revenue loser for a lot of companies.

How does a customer service center become a revenue loser? Consider my last post about giving away product or service to a disgruntled customer. Or offering a dissatisfied customer a discount to continue doing business with you.  Or even worse – not engaging the customer in a conversation that results in exceeding their expectation and making them want to not only continue to do business with you but also to spread the word about your company so that others want to do business with you as well.

Many small businesses understand the importance of engaging the customer. Why? Because the owner or manager is in direct contact with the customer. They hear first hand what the customer has experienced by using their product or service. Small businesses are managed and run by people who have a stake in the success of the business. If the owner or manager hears the customer’s complaint, they’re going to act quickly to resolve the issue.  And the result will be an improved product or service to prevent other customers from having a bad experience.

The larger the corporation the further away the owner, manager, decision-maker is from the customer.

It is vital for any business, regardless of size, to operate so that each person in contact with a customer believes they have a stake in the success of the business. Take away that stake and you’re left with people who read the script, look forward to the end of day, pass the customer to another rep, or continue to say “it’s not my job” or “I don’t know”.

No, customer service is not dead. It is rare though. Let’s work together to make world class customer service the norm when doing business rather than the exception.

Are Freebies and Discounts the Answer?

Regardless of the industry you work in, whether it’s in service like insurance or hospitality, or retail/wholesale like a gift shop or manufacturer of custom equipment, if a customer is not satisfied what do you do?

Some companies have a policy of providing immediate discounts to any customer that calls in with a complaint. While others offer a free service or product to ‘take care’ of the customer.

My question to all companies with these policies is simple: have you measured the effectiveness of the freebies and discounts? My guess would be no, you have not. Otherwise you would see that in some instances, the customer went elsewhere for that product or service. And in other instances, the customer returned a few months later expecting the same freebie or discount.

Evergreen policies are lifetime warranties or guarantees either implied or stated upon purchase of a product or service.

For instance, a company purchases piece of equipment that has a warranty of one year on parts and labor whether or not a service agreement is purchased. A service call is placed at the 9 month mark, and new parts need to be ordered. The one year warranty on the new parts starts at the time of replacement, and because the customer argues the warranty issue with the service manager after the next service call, the manager extends the warranty on all parts and service for another year.

This happens again in 10 months, then again in 11 months, then again in 10 months – it appears that the customer has caught on to the system. Place a service call that includes replacement of a part and extend the warranty to infinity. Saves the customer hundreds of dollars, costs the companies the same hundreds of dollars. Satisfied customer, yes. Company losing money, not a good outcome.

So again I ask, how many of these companies that react to a customer complaint measure the costs of that reaction?

Now for the second question. What about the customers’ wants and needs?

When a customer calls the customer service or service department to complain, and the reaction is to immediately offer a free item or discount the customer’s invoice, then that puts the customer in a position of not being heard.

So, I say to these companies and you customer service representatives – don’t react to the customer, respond.

Engage the customer in a conversation about the problem. Encourage the customer to tell you what it is they want from you and the company. Assure the customer that you have a stake in the outcome of the issue, that you will work with them to resolve the issue. Then, once the conversation is over, begin the process of taking care of the customer’s needs.

This is assuming that the company has a process in place that encourages the service person to engage the customer. If the company does not have a process in place, now is a good time to develop one. How? Begin by talking to your customers, your service reps, and your service managers.

Low Pay, Low Service

How often have you heard the lament “where did good customer service go?”

Has anyone stopped to think that we’re getting what we pay for?

What do you think a quality Customer Service Rep should be paid?  Consider all the aspects of their job before you answer.  The following is a short list of job duties for a basic customer service rep position within a call center environment:

Answer phone, whether in a queue or as a contact within a territory.

Be trained on various software packages including, but not limited to, word processing, spreadsheet, database, customer relationship management, e-mail, and product information data.

Be trained and knowledgable in all aspects of the company’s products, services and processes.  This can, and usually does, include knowing every product and being on top of every new product, knowing people to contact about said products, knowing all aspects of services including contract information and legal liabilities.

Respond to customer requests for order information, product information, process information.

File, copy, fax any and all customer requested or needed documentation.

Be fluent in a particular language, primarily English in the US.  Be able to speak and write well in order to communicate clearly.

Be a team player, willing to jump in when another CSR is either out for the day or in trouble with overload.

Maintain customer contact information for departmental use.

Follow up with all inquiries, whether from external or internal customers.

Sometimes, order entry is also involved, which includes a skill set that involves multi-task capabilities.

Hmmm, I believe I have covered the basics.  If you know anything more, please let me know so I can add it to the list.

 

Anyway, a bank teller, responsible for money! for goodness sakes, has a beginning hourly rate of $8/hour.  Hmm.

A call center employee usually begins at $9/hour.  Hmm.

A retail sales clerk usually begins at $8/hour.  Hmm.

 

Are you seeing the pattern???

Now, I’m not talking about a company hiring off the street, ignorant people.  I’m talking about quality people, some of whom are educated.  Some have an associate degree.  Some have a bachelor degree.  Some have such talent that they could train every customer service rep in the company and still take care of the customer – at the same time.

These people are rarely recognized.  Instead, their managers make three to four times the salary and yet know half as much, expect twice as much from their subordinates while treating them like ignorant, off the street people.  Hmm.  And these people usually don’t last long in these positions because of the treatment they receive.

I applied for a customer service job once that required a bachelor of science degree, existing expertise in the use of a variety of software packages, the ability to learn a catalog of products (approx. 300 separate products) quickly, and be an independent thinker.  Sounds great, doesn’t it?  I interviewed twice for the position, then was offered a beginning salary of $10/hour.  No bonuses, no increase in pay until after a year, limited benefits.  Hmm.  I turned the offer down.  Soon thereafter I found a position paying three times more and expecting about the same in experience and skill level. 

I shake my head in disappointment when I hear similar stories on the street…from people with highly developed communication skills, education and the ability to learn new things quickly.  From people who simply love to serve others, who want to make Customer Service a career, but are limited because very few companies actually understand the importance of good pay to keep good people. 

No, its not always about money, but to be able to support yourself and a family while being compensated for outstanding skills is certainly something to think about.

I welcome any and all comments, experiences, thoughts.  Please feel free to leave your comment below!

Today is the First Day…

Where is your enthusiasm? 

Feeling a bit down and unsure how to get your smile back?

Remember the saying “Today is the first day of the rest of your life?”   Then let’s apply the principle to today.  Can you recall the enthusiasm you had during your first week on the job?  Why did you have it then and not now?  What is it that’s getting in your way?  Is it you?  Is it your co-worker?  Is it new company policies you disagree with?

Guess what?  The customer doesn’t care, but your co-workers and managers do.  As should you.

So, figure out the problem – now.  The solution?  Act like today is the first day on the job, your customer is new to you, the products/services you’re offering are valuable, your co-workers are people with problems too.

I have learned that starting my day over is possible.  It’s all about perspective.  Where am I looking for satisfaction?  Am I lost in thinking about next week or next year?  Am I resentful that I haven’t moved up in the company as quickly as I thought I would?  Is my manager being unfair?  Are my co-workers annoying?

Again, the customer doesn’t care.  If your attitude reflects any of the above feelings, then take care of them now.  Your customer will suffer, not your co-workers, not your manager.  In the end, you will suffer because you’re not living to your ideals and potential.

Sounds easy, right?  Actually it is.  The next time you’re in the restroom, take a deep breath.  Remind yourself of why you took this job.  Remind yourself that you were hired because your skills were needed, and they’re willing to pay you for those skills.  Remind yourself that being paid for a job is important, that you are responsible for being of value for that paycheck.  Remind yourself that your customers need you.

Okay, let’s say the above doesn’t work because you’ve been working 10 hours overtime every week, the dog has been sick, family members are vying for your attention and you’re just pooped.  Talk to your manager.  How long with the mandatory overtime last?  Plan your day…take control.  You are not responsible for everyone, just yourself.  Do what you can and leave the rest to someone else.  Again, it is all about perspective.

Does this help?  Does this answer your question?  Leave me a note and let me know your thoughts.

Change will happen, now deal with it

During the morning meeting your manager announces that the company has been purchased by a competitor.  The two companies will be merging all departments by year end, the headquarters will be located in a different state and your jobs are safe.  Now, on to the rest of the meeting.

Of course, at this point you simply cannot hear anything the manager has to say.  Just a few moments ago you were feeling secure and safe in your position/role within the company.  Now there’s a possibility that you won’t have a job.  Shock, fear and uncertainty are what you’re feeling and to heck with the rest of the meeting – how long before you’re laid off?!

Okay, get a grip.  Take a breath.  Your manager just told you that your job is safe.  So, as far as you know, today you have a job.  It is normal to feel a sense of despair, to have the pit of your stomach sink to new levels, to sweat a bit.

Allow yourself some time to adjust to the news.  Cleaning out your desk is not necessary or warranted.  Engaging in gossip with your co-workers will only make things worse and keep you away from taking care of your customers.  Under no circumstances do you mention this information to your customers.  Business will continue as usual and you are capable of continuing forward, even under some additional stress.

Eat a healthy diet, get plenty of rest, take time to play, take time to reflect.  Remain calm through the next few days.

If your manager has not provided additional information in the following days, remember that he/she may not have information to provide.  If you’re getting reassurances that your position is safe, then believe them. 

Change is a process, not an event.  View this change as an opportunity to grow, develop and improve.  A new company means new products to learn, new customers to service, new personnel to welcome into the fold.

Thriving on change may not be your style, but now is the time to learn to be adaptable and flexible – it will help you work through the process more easily.

Bouncing back with resiliency allows you to deal with change more effectively.

More tips on how to deal with change:

Take personal responsibility to move through the change process by focusing on top priorities – primarily your customer.

Focus only on those things that are necessary to do your job better and to take care of your customer.

Look ahead to the end result of the change, look for the positives.

Move into problem solving mode.  This way you stay in charge.

 

Any comments or stories you would like to add would be welcomed.  In this day of constant changes within business structures we all need to know how to survive change and be better for it.