A dear family friend has an expression – ‘My money is no gift.’
I laugh – but it’s true. I work hard to earn my money. That’s what makes bad customer service experiences even that much harder. I don’t just give it away. I choose to spend it on businesses that can provide me with a positive experience – and a huge part of that is great customer service. Shout out to 2 businesses I have written about previously, and use again and again, as I think they excel at excellent customer service despite not being perfect – Southwest and Royal Caribbean (I’m overdue for a vacation.)
However – not all businesses excel at great customer service. So what are some reasons why customer service sucks?
Over the last month or so, I’ve endured two customer service issues that could have easily been prevented. One with a small business and one with a major corporation. Crappy customer service happens regardless of size and revenues.
The first – I shared with you my experience renting a car from Enterprise. I’ll save the long recap as you can read the post if interested – apparently the social media people over at Enterprise did.
- Why did the service suck? This was bad customer service as the result of poorly documented, poorly communicated and poorly executed processes. Lack of employee training. Poor technology. And another instance with minimal accountability.
The second – I hired a new lawn service to mow my lawn for the season and lay some mulch. I chose the company based on the recommendation of a neighbor (who now owes me a good bottle of wine.)
- Why did the service suck? The staff never took the time to actually listen to what I wanted – they just assumed. They did what they wanted to do the way they were used to doing it, not what I wanted and needed done. I didn’t want mulch in certain areas because when we get heavy rains – the mulch washes away. So why bother lay it there, right? I also wanted the same dark color I had last year. Needless to say I came home from work one day to find the mulch laid, not only not where I wanted it and the wrong color, but they also mowed over several new plants I just put into the ground. After 2 weeks of back and forth voice mails, as no one ever answered the phone when I called, the “boss” finally came to my house. I showed him the damage and explained the concerns. Not only did I receive no apology but he had the nerve to complain to me that it looked good to him and he sees nothing wrong. Zero accountability. He was promptly fired and escorted off the property by my dog – who didn’t appreciate him raising his voice!
Both entirely different situations, entirely different types of businesses, yet had similar problems that caused a poor customer service experience.
So how do you prevent your customer service from sucking?
1. Are you listening! Communication with the customer is imperative to great customer service and increased brand loyalty. Don’t assume. Communicate with your customers. Take the time to listen to their needs. Customers are like snowflakes – no 2 are exactly the same. The process may be different to satisfy one customer as opposed to another even if the job itself is the same. As I’m fond of saying “Ask. Listen. Deliver.”
2. Do you know what you’re doing! We don’t all have all the answers all the time. Don’t claim to either. Don’t promise things you can’t deliver. If you make a mistake, take accountability – own your mistakes and make good on resolving them. Don’t try and shift blame. Make sure someone is accountable to the customer. Make sure those people are trained on what processes to follow to resolve such customer service related issues.
3. Be responsive to issues! Be responsive – when a customer has an immediate need don’t give them the run around, get back to them right away – if you are their POC and don’t know the answers then go back to # 1 and #2 above. Poor process and communication practices internally lead to very slow responsiveness to customer needs and concerns. If processes do exist for customer resolution – make them simple to understand and follow and educate customer facing employees on how to execute such processes to promptly respond to customer concerns.
The money your company generates from your consumers is no gift! Great customer service plays a huge part in customer satisfaction. It’s time to think about how you can cultivate your training, communication, and processes to ensure increased positive customer experiences. Great customer experiences result in increased brand loyalty, reduction in customer acquisition costs, and increased profits!
About Scott Span, MSOD, CSM: is CEO & People Strategist, Communications and Change, at Tolero Solutions. He supports clients to engage and retain talent and wow customers, achieving success through people, creating organizations where people enjoy working and customers enjoy doing business.
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