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

One of the things I often see is what is effectively a sales position wrapped up in the guise of “customer service representative”. They key to knowing this is truly a sales job is the descriptions commonly use phrases such as:

“go-getter”
“aggressive”
“self-starter”
“self-motivated”
“work for commission”
“ability to motivate customers”

You should never see any of those words in a customer service representative job description. All of these phrases are “action” oriented to get other people to do something. In a customer service position, you aren’t trying to get customers to “do” something, so much as your job is to “help” them with something. Or rather, the customer wants YOU to “do” something.

I don’t know if I’m seeing this more and more now because companies are trying to get around the “bad-word” of sales and gain more attraction to the job. Personally, I hate sales. I don’t like solicitation in general, and although I was told I would make a great salesperson, I never had any desire for the position.

But Sales is a necessary evil, and in business, it’s a good one. How else do you get people to buy your stuff? As the article points out, it isn’t all about customer service. I do agree with this. If you don’t have someone proactively reiterating the benefits of your company service or product, while you may still have sales, you won’t have them at the rate you want them to be. Sales in an active form can generate more bang for your buck and gain new customers you wouldn’t have if you’d remained passive.

And Sales is most effective when you combine it with great customer service, but it shouldn’t be just about customer service. As the article discusses, when you use customer service as your only sales tactic, you’re really only generating information, but not actively gaining assurance of a buy. As a salesperson, your job is to seal the deal and know when you walk away you just added a new customer and more money to the company’s bank. And when you have great customer service skills combined with selling tactics; that is a powerful tool right there.

However, it doesn’t work the other way around. Sales is not customer service. Customer service should be focused on assisting the customer where their problems, questions, concerns, and inquiries. Customer service is about information and communication. If I’m calling in to find out how I can get my vacuum cleaner fixed, I don’t want the rep on the phone trying to up-sell me to their latest and greatest product. If I wanted to buy something, I would have either said that directly, or simply gone to the store to purchase a new one.

Take a look at the article and see how this may apply to your company. Have your salespeople become more like customer service reps? Are you trying to use your customer service reps as salespeople, when they really should be just called Sales?

I remember a time when I had to contact my doctor’s office to follow up on some regular testing I had done. Of course I received their automated answering service, which directed me to push various numbers to get to the lab results page for my doctor.

When I finally punched the last number, the line rang for a moment, but then a robotic woman’s voice came over the phone and told me I was dialing an incorrect extension – then proceeded to hang up on me.

I stared at the phone a moment, surprised and confused. I didn’t think I’d dialed the wrong number. In fact, I was pretty darn sure I’d followed the instructions precisely. And the fact that instead of letting me try over, I was hung up on – well – let’s just say I didn’t appreciate having to start all over again.

But I did. I re-dialed every number, careful to listen to all instructions and make sure I did everything right. I got to the last step, and line rang as before, only to be told I had an invalid extension. Click. Now this was just getting downright rude.

I was baffled. I had been given this number by the doctor’s office. In fact, it was written on the business card I had obtained the very last time I was there. I knew I wasn’t making a mistake, so why couldn’t I get through?

I called back, but this time I pressed the main number to speak to a “live” office person. After a few minutes of waiting, I finally reached someone to talk to. Fortunately, she was able to help me. When I told her about trying to call through the extension I’d been given, she let me know the extension had been changed and was the reason I couldn’t get through.

Well, at least I had an answer, and that’s fine and dandy. But why hadn’t they updated this information on their answering service? Why did they still have old cards out with the wrong information? Why did I have to go through 15 minutes of frustration just to figure it all out?

In the customer service field, giving out incorrect or incomplete information can have a serious impact on your image. While I’m not going to fire my doctor for the incident, it did leave me with a bad taste in my mouth and an expectation that when I call them again, I may have to brace myself for a run-around.

Mis-information can build negative feelings. And if your customer has any other poor experiences with your business, this will only be piled on top with the rest of them, resulting in loss of trust and possibly loyalty.

Customers expect companies to give them valid facts from the get-go. It doesn’t matter how small it may be, if it’s not dead-on, you’ll have trouble on your hands.

So make sure you’re always providing accurate details to your customers. Better yet, do what Santa does – check it, then check it twice. You know Santa doesn’t want any billions of ticked off kids coming after him!

• • Calm, confident, live operators
  • Rigorous training
  • Customized service plans
  • 24 hour support

I have to agree, on paper, those seem like pretty good advantages if you’re considering using an answering service for your office. However, the article points out, these are what the really good answering services offer. So where does this leave the rest?

Which comes to my hesitation on using these services. When it comes down to it, it’s really about the quality and integrity of the company you’re hiring for what type of service your going to get – same as any other. I would also be looking at the reasons you need to hire an answering service and what you want to get out of them.

Is your staff too busy to be taking phone calls?
Do you have a limited budget and are looking to outsource?
Is there a particular subject or question your callers ask about?
Do you feel your staff isn’t competent enough to assist with your call volume?

While these may be valid reasons to use an answering service, there could be alternatives for you to consider. If it’s really about lack of time for your staff, and limited money, is there really an advantage to hiring an outside source, or does it make more sense to hire additional inside staff assistance?

If you’re trying to save money, you’re more likely to be looking at companies that may not provide all the customer support services you’re looking for. They may just offer to take the calls and message, but they don’t do the trouble shooting or other services your customers want or need. This could be detrimental as a customer who wants an answer becomes frustrated they aren’t talking to the “right person” when they need to.

And are you really saving money? Is it more cost effective to hire outside services instead of hiring an additional assistant? What are the advantages and disadvantages to you and your company? Are you making any customer service sacrifices by hiring an outside resource? These are things to seriously consider when making the decision to use an answering service.

I would only consider using one of these services if they guarantee the same things I can and would want to provide in-house. That means thorough training so the customer doesn’t know they are speaking to someone not directly employed by the company. Someone who is knowledgeable about your companies services and can assist with questions confidently. If the provider you’re looking at can’t guarantee you at least that – move on. If the service can give you all you want and more, and it’s within your budget, then certainly check it out.

It’s no coincidence then that businesses are starting to look more closely at social media to use in their marketing approach. In fact, large companies such as Zappo’s and Comcast have already achieved great success with these resources.

Twitter seems to be the growing trend to use now for many companies, and as a result, they’ve committed to having immediate response to any customer complaints received through that source. And it’s definitely made an impact. People are talking and what they’re saying is – they like it.

I feel anything that helps you reach out to your customers and makes it a more pleasurable experience for them is a good one. But as with everything else,  you’re only as good as you use them – meaning if you don’t have the right team backing up your social media efforts, you could actually contribute to your own poor customer service.

I’m interested to see which direction social media will take in the next few years; particularly to see which of the social media resources will survive. There’s already a known decline in MySpace as Facebook takes over the #1 spot. And Twitter is surpassing them all, especially now that it’s becoming a celebrity sensation as well. I’m curious to see what new social media entities will be around in the nest 5 years.

The article I read today covers social marketing and the impact it’s been having having in today’s world. Hopefully you’ll find it useful as you determine how to use social media to improve your own customer service. Enjoy.

According to a March, 2009 Forrester report titled “The State Of Service Provider Customer Service”, the number of services offered by “service” companies is increasing, while the amount of money they are able to… (read full article).

I assumed, for most of my direct reports, the answer would have been money. This was mainly because I knew many of them had been working there a long time, and the job is time-consuming and demanding. Not to mention it was always the hot topic of conversation come review time when they didn’t get as much of an a pay increase as they had hoped (not my doing, but because of the on-going tightening of the budget).

So it was to my surprise that only a couple of people opted for money as what was their driving motivation. Some simply wanted recognition. Others enjoyed helping customers and the feeling of satisfaction that came with it. Still others enjoyed being a leader amongst their peers.

And according to the article, those finding coincide nicely with the typical responses the survey has received over the years.

Until now.

Apparently I’ve finally been proven right. Money has taken over the top spot of what employees want most out of their workplace. Per the writer of the story, he feel the reason is due to fear.

With the global economy the way it is, I don’t feel he’s too far off the mark. Although, in my opinion, if it were fear driving them, I would think that job security would be at the top of the list instead of compensation. And in return, I would assume most would be dissatisfied with how much they make in lieu of so many companies cutting back on bonuses and the like.

As a business owner, it’s important to know what will make your employees happy and do what you can to satisfy those needs. Knowing today that it is most likely money can be tricky. For one thing, if your employee’s mind-set is only on money, and their worry over it, this could potentially transfer into a lack of productivity and motivation.

In the meantime, there is still hope the economy will be turning back around sooner rather than later. During that time, continue to reassure your employees and help ease their fears if you know your business is still stable. Knowing they won’t be the next one in line for the unemployed can do wonders for the psyche.

(read full article here)

So when I saw this article regarding the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) decision to have companies publish customer complaints figures every six months, I had to do a little happy dance. That’s one for the customer!

You know me well enough now that I am most definitely pro-company AND pro-customer. My first goal here is to help companies be the best they can be. But in order to do that, customer excellence needs to be well up there in your business priorities.

I’m not aware of the US doing anything similar to this, at least not at the moment. But if the idea of your customer complaints being made public makes you even the teensiest bit uncomfortable, then maybe you should be looking at how you are handling matters.

Companies are almost always going to get complaints, no matter how good they are. It’s how you MANAGE them that makes a difference. How do you resolve the problem so the customer is fully satisfied and will stay loyal. That’s the difference between good, great, and excellent in customer service.

The goal here isn’t to avoid getting complaints so much as when you DO get them, you handle them immediately and in the best way positive – not just for the sake of your company, but for the sake of your customer.

I applaud the UK for holding companies feet to the fire. It’s time that consumers feel they finally have someone watching their back when oftentimes, all they get is no one caring.

See below for the full article:

It is what consumer groups have been demanding for years: banks, insurers and other financial services companies with the worst record for customer complaints are to be named by regulators in a league of shame… (read more).

Having worked in a call center for twelve years, I have some opinion on them. Granted, my experience was probably better than others due to the fact I handled accounts directly, instead of just taking random calls every thirty seconds. Having more control of your day definitely has it’s perks.

The good things I see about call centers is the convenience for the customer. Everything is routed through one location. You can easily be transferred to different departments as needed. It’s also cost effective to the company to have one central location.

But the same positives of a call center are also it’s negatives. While it’s a one-stop shop for customer service, it can also be frustrating for a customer calling and not knowing exactly who to talk to. They may call the wrong department number, or get routed to fifteen different people before connecting with the right one. I know this happened several times at my old company and customers were not happy about it.

And being “cost effective” has a disadvantage to the employees working there. Call Centers traditionally have lower wages for front-line jobs that are the most stressful and time-consuming. Turn-around at call centers is high. It doesn’t surprise me when employees are required to answer the phone within 2 seconds and get off within 30 seconds or less, regardless of what the customer needs.

Working at a call centers can be a thankless job with not-so-great pay. Why stay somewhere where the majority of your calls are from someone with a problem? Usually irate to boot. Most companies are more interested in keeping costs low, they don’t focus on the needs of employees, which is a big mistake.

One way to change this is to better understand the value your employees can have to your business. Focus should be on training employees on how best to deal with customer calls through customer service excellence.

Screening of employees should be carefully done to weed out those people who most likely don’t really care about the customer, or who will end up most likely hating their job within six months and become unproductive.

Wages at call centers should, in my opinion, start at a minimum of $15/hr and go up from there. Most call centers minimum start at $9-$11/hr. There should also be more incentives created and even simple things that make the workplace a more fun and appealing place to go to.

In other words – invest in your employees as much as you invest in your customers.

Usually it’s along the lines of shipping the wrong item, a part is missing, or maybe something got lost. For the unlucky ones, sometimes it’s worse. Something gets broken, or perhaps a contractor breaks a water pipe in your basement and floods your house.

Which is why, on my list of the Top 25 Things You Should Do for Customer Service, I mentioned you should listen and restate what the customer tells you so you’re clear on what’s needed.

I wish the company in the following article had been following my blog. If so, maybe they wouldn’t have made the horrible error they did.

Because this company made such a shocking mistake, they are going to be paying through the nose for it. And the poor home owner who lost everything will now only have the memories of his childhood home.

Obviously a tragic blunder of customer service that could have been prevented if the company had not only verified their information, but confirmed exact details with the original person they were in contact with.

This company is not only negligent for destroying property, but for using information that was incomplete and not going back to verify it. To me, that’s just unacceptable, particularly in the business they are in.

So next time you think you have the facts, or only have half the facts, go back and double-check them with your customer before moving forward. The two extra minutes you spend will save you that much more time, effort, and money in the long run.

In the meantime, here’s the article. Be sure to check out the related video that is attached. Hopefully this never happens to you!

Imagine driving up to a house you own only to find it’s not there anymore. That’s what happened to Al Byrd of Atlanta on Monday afternoon.

Byrd received a call from a neighbor on June 8 telling him that his childhood home in Carrollton, Ga., had been demolished. When Byrd arrived on the scene with a Carroll County Sheriff’s deputy… (read more here).

Simple words that pack a whole lotta meaning. This quote ties in nicely with #15 of our countdown for The Top 25 Things You Should Do in Customer Service: Be proactive.

What does being proactive mean in the business world? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines proactive as, “acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes”.

Why is this so important to a customer? Because when you are proactive, you are essentially either preventing problems that may occur – thus saving more grief by the customer – or you are helping them more than they ever expected. This in itself is like manna from heaven to a customer – the key point here being they don’t expect it.

When you give a customer more than they bargained for – in a positive and productive way – that type of action stands out. They remember you and the help you gave them. In turn, they remember your store, your business, your company, your service. They’ll tell their friends. And they’ll come back for more.

Simply reacting to a customer’s needs doesn’t cut it anymore. Of course, you may not always have the opportunity to do more than what is expected. But you need to look for those opportunities and take them.

It can be as simple as making a phone call on behalf of the customer instead of them having to do it. Or doing the legwork of finding a product for them they haven’t been able to find.

Back when I was an Account Coordinator at Coca-Cola, I had a local account where the customer was flipping out because a part they needed for their fountain installation hadn’t arrived. The part couldn’t be delivered until the next day, and there wasn’t a service tech available to get the part for them.

Since they needed it to pass an inspection, I told the customer I would go to the warehouse myself, pick up the part, and drive it to their store. Did I have to do this? No. Could I have found someone else or told the customer they had no choice but to wait? Sure.

But that would have left a very bad impression of the company in the customer’s mind. Plus, I felt bad for the customer, it was our problem to fix; I wanted to help. I didn’t mind if it took a few hours to get it all done. Just seeing the smile and relief on the customer’s face was worth it.

Even though the customer initially blamed us for the mistake, he was so impressed that I had taken the time and effort to get the part for him, he told me that was why he stayed with our company – because we could be relied on for our service.

Proactive customer service is what creates not just a satisfied customer, but a LOYAL customer. And loyal customers are sheer gold to your business.

So the next time you have the chance to do something for your customer, don’t just react – take charge and be proactive. Your customer will thank you with their business.