“Can you please hold the line!”, “Could you hold on please?” or “Just a moment please.” are some of the most frustrating words you don’t want to hear from customer service reps.
They do it all the time and it’s not fun when you are at the other end of the line. And guess what, they take forever to get back to you. And if you complain a lot on the line, you spend more trying to resolve an issue. If you are desperate you could be on the line for a very long.
–Start listening!
If your customer service sucks, fix it. If you have ever been on the other end, you know what I am talking about. If you have been taking calls from customers, you know what you’ve been doing wrong, stop it.
Nobody likes to be put on hold, it’s frustrating and guess what when it ends, your customer could be heading to Facebook or Twitter with a message to your prospective clients. I hear Zappos does a good job at customer service, you could learn something new from them if you really want to build a great company that genuinely cares about customers.
–Treat her with respect!
You want to be that company with a negative reputation. it takes a long time to fix a negative reputation, so why don’t you treat your customers with respect and give them the right information they need in time. If they have to be put on hold for what ever reason, get back to them in less than 60 seconds if you can.
–Be polite!
Nobody likes picking up a phone just to make a random call. If your customers are calling, they have genuine reasons for making contact. They are either experiencing problems with your product or something has gone wrong and they can’t fix it.
Some customers even try to do something about it before calling customer service. You made the product, so you are in a better position to fix it, do your job and get them the help as soon as possible. It’s in your own interest if your customers are happy. They will sing your song in a social room.
–Say something nice!
Even if you can’t immediately offer a solution to a problem or a complaint, say something nice to calm the customer down. Imagine yourself in the customer’s shoes. Every customer wants the best value for money and she wants to know you are ready to help when she gets into any problem using your product or service.
-Take the blame
The customer is always right, don’t challenge her. Just listen to the problem and respectively offer a better way to solve it. Don’t be defensive and start talking about how the customer should have used your product, you will get her angry more.
Take the blame, ask her how she wants to be helped or what she wants and find help in no time. Don’t put her on unnecessary hold.
-Be sorry
Be sorry about the product or service breakdown and show the customer how much you care. A complaint is an opportunity to show how much your brand cares about customers.
Everyone makes mistakes. Your customers understand that. They just want you to fix it when you screw up. In the meantime, don’t be afraid to say, “I’m sorry”. This doesn’t get you off the hook. It just acknowledges the problem. Now hurry and fix the problem!
–Don’t patronise her
Don’t try and convince the customer that it’s really not as bad as she thinks. Really! Is that how you want to approach it. That feels like patronising, which makes things worse.
-It’s a crisis, deal with it!
A crisis needs to be dealt with patiently. Handle your customers with patience, because they are mostly out patience when they make that call.
How do you deal with customer complains in your business?
