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Never Leave Your Customers Wondering
by Kevin Stirtz
Kevin Stirtz’s Amazing Customer Service Rule #23
Never leave them wondering.
I call my insurance company with a question. The customer service representative is unable to answer it so she says she’ll need to research the answer and call me back. Within seconds the line goes dead and she’s gone.
I’m researching a website for a product. They have pretty pictures and witty, hip-sounding marketing copy. But I can’t find the answers to the questions I have. When I email their customer service, I get an auto-response email that does nothing to answer my questions.
I walk into a sporting goods store looking for a pair of walking/jogging shoes. The employee I ask twists his arm back, points toward the rest of the store and mumbles “they’re over there.”
We sit down at a local restaurant and scan the menu. The server has taken our drink order and left. I’d really like a soup and salad but I have no idea what soup is available.
Every one of these examples is true. And every one shows a customer who is left wondering. When will you call me back? Exactly where are the walking shoes? What soup do you have available?
Simple, harmless questions that could easily be answered. Yet the careless and unthinking people who left me wondering seemed to have no clue how badly they were serving me. It was nothing intentional. It was more like they never even considered doing anything more than what they did.
When you leave your customers with unanswered questions, you are not doing your job. You are not helping them get what they came for.
When you leave customers wondering, you substantially increase the chances they will go to your competition. And they’ll probably tell stories about you (not good stories either).
The good news is, it’s easy to prevent this.
All it takes is that you try to see things from your customer’s Point of View (POV). Shift your POV from yourself to your customer. If you’re not sure how, ask your customer. Or be your customer. Find ways to experience your company, your products and your service like your customers do. Walk around in their shoes.
Once you understand better what your customers want from you, then answering their unasked questions will be easy. It will become automatic.
If you never leave them wondering, they’re more likely to come back. And they’ll probably bring friends with them!
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Kevin Stirtz is the Amazing Service Guy, a speaker and trainer who helps companies increase revenue and profits by delivering Amazing Service. Stirtz has been quoted in such major media as BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, Smart Money and the Chicago Sun Times. Get a free copy of his Amazing Service Toolkit.
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- Ask Open-Ended Questions
- Always Give Them Something
- Are You All In?
- Foolish Consistency is the Hobgoblin of Poor Service
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