What is the big deal around customer service? It’s easy right? There are 4 steps:
1. Be personable and gracious toward all customers
2. Treat every person with dignity and respect.
3. Listen to the customers’ needs and point of view.
4. Provide customers with everything they expect and more.
Then implement these principles in corporate missions and goals. Train people for a day on how it works and BAM! Instant happy customers, right? Well no.
Customer service is so hard because we run our companies by customer service myths we do not question and are not true:
Myth #1: All customers are the same.
Myth #2: The customer is always right.
Myth #3: The customer is always wrong.
Myth #4: Good customer service is about having high-quality products.
Myth #5: Good customer service is just plain common sense.
Myth #6: The term “good customer service” means the same thing to everyone.
Myth #7: Ethics, pride, and altruism are all reasons for providing excellent customer service.
Myth #8: If you learn how to “put up with customers,” business can be great!
Myth #9: Taking care of the customers you have is more important than getting new customers.
Myth #10: Unhappy customers tell their stories to more people than happy customers do.
Myth # 11: Unhappy customers are a part of doing business. If you handle a customer complaint well, the offended customer will be
even a more loyal customer.
Myth #12: Customers don’t care about great service; they just want the lowest price possible.
Myth #13: Customers need to be patient. They can’t expect a company to fix all complaints overnight.
Myth #14: Forget about good customer service; people buy from those they like.
Myth #15: Some people are naturally good at customer service.
Myth #16: Comment cards and customer surveys accurately measure customer service.
Myth #17: Customer service systems should focus on troubleshooting. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
Myth #18: Companies achieve good customer service by under-promising and over-delivering.
Myth # 19: You can satisfy all of the customers all of the time.
Myth #20: Roll Your Own! What is the myth that guides your view of customer service?
Customer service is hard because it is not what companies say it is and almost never the same from customer to customer or time to time. Customer service is only what a customer says it is in a particular instant on a particular day. The customer view is determined by
1. The level of satisfaction that an individual customer plus
2. Feels each time they use the product or service plus
3. Each time they interact with the company rep or web site
It is a constantly changing, perpetually moving target.
scxsThe key is to ask yourself, what would you want? Think Dirty Harry: How can I make your day better? We define “BAM!-good!” customer service as the attitudes and actions to help a customer feel more satisfied each time they interact with the company.
How do you define it?
Other articles you might like:
- Thank your customers for complaining
- This is Going to Hurt. (A Lot.)
- Customer Service IS a Profit Center
- Customers Are Fighting Back
- Keep Your Customers Coming back by Making them Happy
Customer Service Training Toolkit
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Reading through Barry’s list of “myths” you might be tempted (like I was at first) to say “Wait a minute – that’s not a myth. That one is true!” This happened more than once for me.
But this article is not about debating what is or is not a myth. In fact what is on this list is not as important as the point Barry is trying to make.
Barry’s point in offering this list is to remind us that providing amazing customer service is about discovering what our customers want and then giving it to them. It’s less about rules and tactics and than it is about getting to know your customers and working with them to help them accomplish what they want. When we do that, we build a sustainable and healthy business.
Kevin Stirtz
The Amazing Service Guy