Industry
Intelligence
Best Practices, Tips & Techniques
Posted 10/23/07
26
little ideas to help you respond to complaints and difficult
customers with much more ease... the ABC's of Customer
Recovery.
A
ct as if every lost customer's sales come out of your
paycheck.
Believe
the best of customers. Don't make the mistake of assuming most
customers are out to simply get something for nothing. The
truth is, less than 1% of customers contact companies with
ulterior motives in mind.
C
ommunicate with diplomacy and tact when you final answer is
"no" and when explaining company policy.
D
on't tell a customer she is wrong. Telling a customer they are
wrong never makes them want to agree with you. It only pushes
them more forcefully into their original position.
E
mpathize with unhappy customers and allow this empathy to
season your responses.
F
ind
a way to say "yes" to customers. Instead of saying
"no" or telling the customer what you can't do,
think critically about what you actually can do.
G
ive a token item such a coupon as a concrete form of apology.
H
ave a sense of urgency. Demonstrate with your words and speed
of response that getting to the bottom of the problem is just
as important to you as it is to your customer.
I
nvolve customers in the problem resolution process. Sometimes
it's very helpful to simply ask, "How do you see us
resolving this?"
Jot
down the customer's name and details of the problem they are
describing so you don't have to ask the customer to repeat
information.
K
eep customers apprised of your timetable and progress toward
resolving their problems.
L
isten with the intent to truly understand your customer, not
with the intent to interrupt, reply, or correct.
M
onitor your customer service calls to ensure your tone is
friendly, helpful and willing.
N
egotiate resolutions that balance both the interests of your
company and your customer.
Open
the door with unhappy customers with open- ended questions.
Make your questions demonstrate a sincere interest in better
understanding the customer's problem or experience.
P
ut yourself in the customer's shoes. How would you feel if the
exact same problem happened to you?
Q
uickly apologize. Apologize both when the company is at fault
and even when the customer is responsible for the error. An
apology goes a long way in creating calm, diffusing anger and
regaining goodwill.
R
ecognize that the issue is not the issue. The way the issue is
handled becomes the real issue.
S
ay "no" diplomatically and without causing
resentment. The best way to do this is to start out by telling
the customer what you can do.
T
hank customers for their feedback.
U
p-Service your customers by suggesting products or services
that enhance the value of their current purchase.
View
the customer as the reason for your work- --not as an
interruption to your work.
W
OW customers.
EX
amine the root cause of problems and work to eliminate
problems at the root.
Y
ou are the company to each customer. Never underestimate your
power to influence the customer's future buying decisions.
Zero
in on the customer's needs and wants.
Together, these customer service tips may come in
handy this week. If you like these tips, please forward this
newsletter to a friend and tell them they can sign up at http://www.myragolden.com.
Recommended:
Myra Golden’s
Golden Method for Complaint Handling On-demand, Online Video Course.
Available from http://www.HandleDifficultCustomers.Com.
Subscribe
to Myra Golden’s Customer Service Intelligence newsletter
today.
###
How
do I
get all of my supervisors together for calibration?
My
call center has a great quality monitoring program and it's
been well received by our call center agents. We have had some
challenges with consistency and most likely, regular
calibration sessions will help, but we just cannot find the
time to get every supervisor together. What suggestions might
you have for getting an entire team of call center supervisors
together for call monitoring calibrations sessions?
Myra's
answer to How do I
get all of my supervisors together for calibration?
A couple
of suggestions: If
you’re currently only meeting once a month for calibration,
you might go to twice monthly, that way if not everyone shows
up at one meeting, you still have another session that month
in which they could meet.
Another
idea is to hold your calibration sessions weekly. I realize
that sounds like a huge commitment of time – time you
don’t have, and it is a scheduling nightmare, but here’s
what it does for you: If
you hold calibration meetings weekly, for example, every
Friday at 9:00am, you could then make it mandatory that every
supervisor attends one calibration meeting per month.
It doesn’t matter which Friday session, as long as they do
attend one of the four Friday sessions.
Recommended:
How
to Design (or refine) a Quality Monitoring Program You Can Be
Proud of
5
WEEK COURSE, BEGINNING November 12, 2007
Get
the full story here.
