Recently I had the opportunity to be on the receiving end of customer service. I say “opportunity” because I always learn so much about how to improve our own customer service by looking closely at the way I am treated when I’m someone else’s customer.
Let me say from the outset that excellent customer service is not an easy thing to provide. It requires attention to detail, knowing your products and services intimately, being willing to see things from the customer’s point of view and above all, truly caring about your customer.
But in addition to all of those complicated parts of customer service, I’ve learned something over the years that at first sounds too simple, but turns out to be really profound:
It doesn’t take much to make most people happy.
Most customers do not expect you, or your products, to be absolutely perfect. What they do expect is timely attention to complaints, an attempt to set the problem right and frequent updates on what is happening.
My recent experience with customer service has left me feeling like I’ve gone through Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ 5 Stages of Grief. I’m not going to name the company in question or even talk about the product because as a business owner myself, I know just how hard it is to deliver on exceptional customer service.
What I do want to emphasize is what I made of the experience as it was unfolding, so I (and you!) won’t make any of these mistakes with our own customers.
To set the stage, there was a problem with a product I had purchased that I could not resolve, in spite of following detailed user instructions. Getting this product up and running was time-sensitive and critical to a deadline we were attempting to meet.
I notified the company’s customer support, via a support desk ticket system. I clearly labeled the ticket as the highest priority (which I have never done in my entire life!) After awhile I received a reply informing me they would try to find the answer to my question and get back to me. While I was happy with the initial response, little did I know that my experience would be all downhill from there.
Without going into detail, suffice it to say that I never did get an answer to my question. The more I tried to communicate its urgency, the more time it seemed to take for the company to respond. At one point, I was at my wit’s end. And then I went into what I can only call the Five Stages of Customer Service Grief:
1. Denial: “This cannot be happening. Getting this off the ground right now is essential. We have put so much work into this. I just don’t believe it. Surely they will come through.”
2. Anger: “I am so mad I can’t see straight! Maybe if I’m firm but still cordial in my emails, they will get the picture. If I could just get a live person on the phone instead of that slower than molasses ticket system! Are they even reading all of our questions?”
3. Bargaining: “Please just let us figure out how to make this thing work on our own. We can do it if we just try hard enough. Even if they don’t know the answer, they could at least apologize and try to make it right.”
4. Depression: “Our whole project is ruined. Everything I have touched today has turned to mud. I’m a terrible entrepreneur.”
5. Acceptance: “OK, they are not going to help us any further. We have to go to Plan B. You know, I’m feeling better now and I know I can rely on my own ingenuity. I accept my responsibility in this by acknowledging we should have tested this throughly weeks ago. Our company is stronger now.”
Even if the company could not solve my problem in the time frame I needed, they could have gone a long way toward keeping me as a customer if they had:
1. simply acknowledged the priority of the situation by stating they realized the problem was urgent and by not taking hours between tickets to reply.
2. answered my repeated requests for a phone conversation to try to resolve the issue.
3. If the problem with the product could not be resolved, making the situation right by offering a refund or providing me with another product of my choice.
All I wanted was to feel like I was being heard, instead of feeling like I was a being a nuisance.
In the end, I lost faith in a company that I had previously trusted. And they lost a customer for life.
So the next time you are on the receiving end of “customer service” pay close attention to how you are treated. If you are happy, then vow to bring that level of service (or beyond) to your own customers. And if you are displeased, use that information to improve your customer service as well.
I hear a lot of advice from some big name internet marketers who say that customer service is the very first thing you should outsource. I respectfully disagree.
If at all possible, keep your customer service in house so you can keep watch over how your most valuable asset…your customers…are treated. If you must outsource, make sure you have constant oversight of the process.
Customer service is difficult to get right. But it’s not impossible…just remember to treat your customers the way you would want to be treated yourself.
Simple really. After all, this most elementary of customer service lessons is something all of us learned in kindergarten…it’s called the Golden Rule.
P.S. Update: We finally did get a yes to our request to speak with the company’s tech person on the phone, but the offer came much too late…we had already moved on to Plan B.
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photo: by striatic http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
What a great perspective on this problem we all encounter sometimes. And a brilliant way to frame it! I really like that you offer a process that gives us a way to move forward.
On top of that, you’re giving me the reminders I can always use to give the best customer service I can to my own customers. Thanks so much.