Have you ever called up a customer service line with a major problem, only to have the customer service representative tell you; “I can’t help you with that.”? Or maybe you tried to return a defective item at the store, only to be told you had to deal with the manufacturer of the product.
Frustrating, isn’t it?
It truly flabbergasts me when a company either advocates having their representatives give these responses, or they do nothing to train them otherwise. I say advocates because who in their right mind wouldn’t try to help a customer?
One of the first rules in customer service is acknowledging a customer’s problem. The second rule that immediately follows that is to apologize for the problem. And the third rule that rounds everything out is to accept responsibility for fixing the problem.
Acknowledging the Problem
When a customer comes to you or your employee with a problem, the first thing you need to do is acknowledge the problem. Let them know you understand what they’ve told you. Ask them questions if you don’t understand or need more information. By simply acknowledging their situation, you’re demonstrating to them you want to help them and this automatically alleviates some of the frustration they may already be going through.
Make an Apology
When a customer has come to you because they have a problem, or something is broken, or someone didn’t show up – whatever the case may be – you should automatically offer them an apology for the inconvenience. I cannot stress this enough. You are not telling them it’s your fault; that’s not the point of the apology. But the bottom line is the customer’s life has been disrupted in some way and they are looking to you to fix it.
Many times, that’s the only thing the customer is looking for – someone to apologize to them. I can’t tell you how many times a customer actually thanked me because I took the time to simply apologize to them. It goes a long way in turning an upset customer into a reasonable and understanding one.
Accept Responsibility
Often-times customer representatives will do the first two steps, but leave out the crucial step of responsibility. Maybe it’s an automatic defensive response, they simply don’t want to be bothered with fixing a mess they didn’t cause, or they just don’t know what to do. In my opinion, there is NO excuse for not taking responsibility in helping a customer fix their problem.
All a customer wants when they come to you with a problem is for someone to fix it. You now have the power to take a frustrated, upset, and possibly irate customer and turn them back into a happy and potentially loyal one that will be praising you and your company’s name. It doesn’t even matter if you have no idea how to fix the problem. Someone always does. Even if it means you admit to the customer you’re not sure how to help them, as long as you tell them you will find out the answers for them and get back to them, it will go a long way in making that customer happy.
To give you an example of this, I once had a customer call me and immediately start yelling at me because his equipment hadn’t shown up to be installed and he was supposed to open his restaurant in 2 days. I was never even aware of the installation because the salesperson had never called it in to me. Instead of throwing the salesperson under the bus, I immediately apologized there had been a mix-up, took down all the customer’s information, and then told him exactly what steps I was going to take to try to fix the situation for him. His response was threaten to go to the competition with all eight of his stores if he didn’t get what he wanted. Not the most ideal situation.
I immediately contacted the salesperson, who admitted to dropping the ball, and got the rest of the information I needed to order equipment. I then contacted the local technicians and begged them to install the equipment the next day, even though I knew they were completely booked. (This is where it pays to build great relationships with your vendors). They agreed to do it, and with a little more begging with the shipping company, I was able to get everything set up and taken care of by the very next day.
The customer was so thrilled with my being able to help him get his equipment installed in such a quick turn-around, he not only thanked me, but offered me a job with his company (which I politely declined).
The point of the story is that if you follow these steps, regardless of how complicated the problem is or if it was your fault to begin with; if you take responsibility to fix it, you will boost yourself and the company in the eyes of that customer. Customers understand mistakes happen and are willing to forgive. What they won’t forgive, and certainly won’t forget, is if you do nothing.
