Have you ever spoken with a customer service representative who told you he/she would be getting back to you with information – and then you never hear from them again? Usually, you’re the one having to call back in and then have to translate your problem all over again to someone else. Annoying, isn’t it?
As a customer service rep for any business, if you tell someone you’re going to follow up with them, then you do it. There are no excuses for not. In fact, there are a few situations you should always be following up with the customer:
• You’ve told a customer you will get back to them with information they’ve requested
• A customer has a scheduled service
• At the end of any service visit made by your company
Not only is it common courtesy to follow up with someone you already told you would call, but most of the time, that person is waiting for you to provide information that is important to them. And often that information is costing or saving them time and money.
If a customer has a scheduled service, a quick reminder call to your customers is a nice way of showing your business is considerate of their time. It also ensures there won’t be any problems with a tech going out to the location and no one being there.
Often, when a service trip is over, many businesses feel that is where their contact with the customer ends. This is a big mistake, because essentially, they’re making the assumption that everything went fine with the service call, or that the customer has no questions. And we all know what it means to assume.
When I was an Account Coordinator, it was part of my responsibility to contact the customer within 48 hours from the end of the service visit. And while most of the time, everything with the service went very well, there were a number of times there were problems. Either the customer wasn’t happy with the service itself, or they actually had to have a tech come back out to the location. Sometimes, they had questions about the service, but hadn’t had the opportunity to call in. Whatever the case, they ALL were appreciative that I had followed up with them.
Here are a few rules you should abide by for follow up:
• Always give a specific time or time frame you will contact the customer (within an hour, by end of business day, 5:00p.m., within 24 hours, etc.)
• Always call back within the time frame you gave the customer
• Follow up should always be within the first 24 hours if possible, and no more than 48 hours maximum. If follow up needs to be extended, give the best estimated time for follow up you can
• If you have to be delayed in contacting a customer back, always acknowledge and apologize for the delay
• Make sure you have the correct contact information to reach the customer – even if they’ve already given it to you
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