The Nine Rules for a Successful Customer Service Operation
Whether you are the customer service area of a auto repair garage, a large retail store, or a professional service firm, there are some basic rules for the operation of a successful customer service function.
1)Start every conversation with a short, personable and to the point and cheerful greeting. "Hello, my name is Sarah, how can I help you?" is just about perfect. Many customer service centers start out with presenting a full name or title or with, worse yet, an identification number, which is said so fast that one one gets the first time, so then end up asking if you can repeat the id number so they can write it down. How stupid is that? Right off the bat you have the caller, who already has 1 problem or he wouldn't have called in the first place, thinking that he needs to write this down in case he has a further complaint.
2)Never ask a question that has any probability of getting the caller off track of the main reason for the call, much less a question that is likely to highlight another problem the caller has with you! With the growing public annoyance with the automated answering front ends, a number of companies now have scripts that ask "Did you have any difficulty getting through the automated system?" or "Did you have to wait very long?". Those questions should be asked to test groups set up to test the new automated systems and not try to gather information from real customers. There are phone administration systems that provide the wait time for each call, why draw attention to another potential dissatisfaction.
3)If you have a phone system that allows the automated portion of the system to obtain the caller's account number or other forms of identification then actually pass it to the person that answers the call Nothing is more frustrating than to struggle entering in a 15 digit account number on your touch tone phone only to be asked to repeat it to the first person you talk to. Makes your company look incompetent to the person who already has a problem with your product or service.
4)In today's high tech world of caller id, why in the world would you ever ask "If we should get disconnected during this call, is there a number I can call you back on?" Your staff should all be equipped with phones with caller id, so you already know that number. Worst yet, I have been the frustrated caller that gets transferred from person to person.. each asking that same question. Again, in this day of high tech, your support center can be connected to a computer integrated phone system that attempts to recognize the in coming phone number and matching it with your customer file and transferred calls should transfer that computer screen information, not only from the customer file, but the info gathered from that very call!
5)Make sure your customer support staff is well trained, either in your products, services or operations, or has an easy to follow decision table schematic that will either help them address the problem, or get you to the correct person in the organization who can with one transfer!
6)Always have empathy with the caller, no matter how stupid or unreasonable they are. They are calling in because they have a problem, and even if the real problem is them and not your product or service, it is the customer service departments job to Serve the Customer! That doesn't apply to abuse. There should be a standard way to handle abusive callers. The best procedures are to transfer them to the person that is trained and has the personality to deal effectively with them. The philosophy that the customer is always right!, does not apply to abusive callers.
7)Spend the necessary time to build a list of the most frequently occurring issues and the correct responses to deal with them. That might very well lead to the Decision Table Schematic mentioned in #5. Then set up a regular review of this 'game plan' and update in on a regular basis.
8)Have members of management spend time in the customer support function from time to time. This is very difficult to get them to agree to it, but it really helps for the people who design the products, systems and services to have first hand knowledge of customer problems. You will be surprised how much better you products and services become if you can pull this off.
9)Set up a periodic 'Customer Award' session, where the staff gets to tell the story of their worst experience since the last session. If handled correctly, these can not only be a great way for the staff to 'blow off some steam', but they can turn into some of the funniest stories that you ever want to hear. It is hard work being a good customer support person, these periodic story and award sessions make a hard job a little more fun.
The steps seem easy enough when you read them, but unfortunately they all take a good deal of time to think through and put in place. However, customers are the people that pay all of the salaries of everyone in the company. Competition for those customers is getting fiercer than ever. Once you have got a customer, your customer service can be a major factor in keeping them.
1)Start every conversation with a short, personable and to the point and cheerful greeting. "Hello, my name is Sarah, how can I help you?" is just about perfect. Many customer service centers start out with presenting a full name or title or with, worse yet, an identification number, which is said so fast that one one gets the first time, so then end up asking if you can repeat the id number so they can write it down. How stupid is that? Right off the bat you have the caller, who already has 1 problem or he wouldn't have called in the first place, thinking that he needs to write this down in case he has a further complaint.
2)Never ask a question that has any probability of getting the caller off track of the main reason for the call, much less a question that is likely to highlight another problem the caller has with you! With the growing public annoyance with the automated answering front ends, a number of companies now have scripts that ask "Did you have any difficulty getting through the automated system?" or "Did you have to wait very long?". Those questions should be asked to test groups set up to test the new automated systems and not try to gather information from real customers. There are phone administration systems that provide the wait time for each call, why draw attention to another potential dissatisfaction.
3)If you have a phone system that allows the automated portion of the system to obtain the caller's account number or other forms of identification then actually pass it to the person that answers the call Nothing is more frustrating than to struggle entering in a 15 digit account number on your touch tone phone only to be asked to repeat it to the first person you talk to. Makes your company look incompetent to the person who already has a problem with your product or service.
4)In today's high tech world of caller id, why in the world would you ever ask "If we should get disconnected during this call, is there a number I can call you back on?" Your staff should all be equipped with phones with caller id, so you already know that number. Worst yet, I have been the frustrated caller that gets transferred from person to person.. each asking that same question. Again, in this day of high tech, your support center can be connected to a computer integrated phone system that attempts to recognize the in coming phone number and matching it with your customer file and transferred calls should transfer that computer screen information, not only from the customer file, but the info gathered from that very call!
5)Make sure your customer support staff is well trained, either in your products, services or operations, or has an easy to follow decision table schematic that will either help them address the problem, or get you to the correct person in the organization who can with one transfer!
6)Always have empathy with the caller, no matter how stupid or unreasonable they are. They are calling in because they have a problem, and even if the real problem is them and not your product or service, it is the customer service departments job to Serve the Customer! That doesn't apply to abuse. There should be a standard way to handle abusive callers. The best procedures are to transfer them to the person that is trained and has the personality to deal effectively with them. The philosophy that the customer is always right!, does not apply to abusive callers.
7)Spend the necessary time to build a list of the most frequently occurring issues and the correct responses to deal with them. That might very well lead to the Decision Table Schematic mentioned in #5. Then set up a regular review of this 'game plan' and update in on a regular basis.
8)Have members of management spend time in the customer support function from time to time. This is very difficult to get them to agree to it, but it really helps for the people who design the products, systems and services to have first hand knowledge of customer problems. You will be surprised how much better you products and services become if you can pull this off.
9)Set up a periodic 'Customer Award' session, where the staff gets to tell the story of their worst experience since the last session. If handled correctly, these can not only be a great way for the staff to 'blow off some steam', but they can turn into some of the funniest stories that you ever want to hear. It is hard work being a good customer support person, these periodic story and award sessions make a hard job a little more fun.
The steps seem easy enough when you read them, but unfortunately they all take a good deal of time to think through and put in place. However, customers are the people that pay all of the salaries of everyone in the company. Competition for those customers is getting fiercer than ever. Once you have got a customer, your customer service can be a major factor in keeping them.
