5 customer service tips. Part of the 101 tips which can be found in the ‘how to get your customers coming back for more’ tips booklet available through our shop.
I built up this tips booklet from an interactive exercise I run with customer service groups I work with. So these are my curated list from the work the professionals generate. This is what customer service individuals say about the type of customer service which impresses them most.
5 Customer Service tips from the professionals
- Avoid half truths. Be as honest and upfront with the customer as you can. Make your whole way of dealing with the situation as transparent as possible.
- Don’t fob people off. Tell it like it is and deal with the situation as thoroughly as you can, as quickly as you can. Customers are often brighter than you may give them credit for and fobbing them off will often increase problems later.
- Be open to reason. Customers get frustrated easily when you are not open to reason. ‘Computer says No.’ Consider the customer’s perspective and if you feel they are justified you will have to do whatever you can to ensure that the final outcome is a fair one.
- Be prepared to explain your decision or policy. If you can’t help them or your policy prevents it, explain briefly and clearly why the policy exists. DO NOT however go into great detail about how your organisation goes about business. The customer doesn’t need to know. And frequently they don’t want to know. At worst it can seem like you’re making excuses.
- Be courteous at all times. Just as your mum and dad brought you up to have good manners, so treating your customers in the same way will help, as it displays respect and we all like to be respected. Even if you are provoked, it’s important not to sink to the customer’s level. Remain courteous and cool and it will at least keep you on the moral high ground (even if you really want to yell and scream at them!)
There are many reasons to try and see any situation from the customer’s perspective. First it might just help you come up with a better solution. Second, typically customers calm down and become more reasonable when they feel listened to and understood. When you understand their viewpoint, they won’t have the need to force their point of view.
Customer service – basic really
A lot about good and exceptional customer service is basic to the extent that it’s what we like when we are the customer. So treat others as you’d like them to treat you and it great customer service becomes instinctive and it flows naturally.
When interacting with customers, listen carefully to the language they use. This will tell you lots about how they’re thinking and what their expectations are. We run an interactive exercise when running customer service programmes where the participants perform the role of both customers and customer service agents. We discuss how much the customer may reveal by the language they use. The other element of communication to listen out for is their tone. Listen attentively and pick up on their use of expression, energy, emphasis and enthusiasm. Did you know that expression (the way people say things) makes up over 80% of the impact of communication. The remaining 20% is created by WHAT they say.
For all of this and a host of other great tips and tactical approaches to take with customers, talk to us about customer service training programmes. Typically an onsite 2 hour team audit followed by the 2 day customer communications course. Send us some details here if you are looking to develop your team and improve the service your customers receive.
To Market provides customer service training programmes for office based telephone teams around the UK including Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Hinckley, Nuneaton, Coventry, Birmingham, Cambridge as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, the East and West Midlands.