To deliver excellent customer service, there are some phrases that should not be used when relating with customers, they are referred to as “the forbidden phrases”. This forbidden phrases includes:
1 “That’s not my job….” - The customer does not know it’s not your job, what they are looking for is assistant. Instead direct them to where they will get help by saying,” I’m not in charge of that area, but I’ll direct you to someone that will handle it very well”.
2 “That’s not my fault.” - The customer would not really know whose fault it is, because you are all suppose to be working as a team. When a complaint is made,your initial reply should be, “sir/ma,we are really sorry that this happened,we'll look into this situation and see what we can do about this.” A simple apology can help to pacify the customer before taking an action, don’t point accusing finger to any particular person.
In customer service, the bottom line is that the customer is not interested in who did it. Just fix the problem!
3 “I don’t know.” It seems as if you are closing the door to the customer by using this phrase. It’s better to say, “I’m not too sure; let me find out for you.”
4.“We can’t do that” This sentence is extremely negative. Be positive, even if you can’t do that, tell them what you can do that can be an alternative to what they are looking for. The only time you might be permitted to use these statement is when a customer wants you to do something against company’s policy.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Successful Service Recovery Strategies (4)
(continued from last post)
4. Take Action! Fix The Problem!
Immediate action should be taken to fix the problem for the customer. This might be easy in some situations where you just have to replace the product, but it might be difficult to manage services (since services are intangible).
For instance how do you fix the problem of a client who was not pleased with your hotel services, a passenger losing his baggage at the airport, the loss of a loved one in a hospital setting?
The next two steps will help to manage such difficult situations.
5. Follow Up.
Follow-up on the problem and make sure it does not repeat itself. Service recovery is not just about fixing the problem but making sure it does not reoccur by proper follow-up.
After follow-up, make additional phone call a day or two to know how they are coping and do everything within the organizations policy to make they're satisfied. And when you hear “thank you”, then you are on your way to re-gaining their confidence in your service.
6. Provide compensation
There are times you have to provide refund, a token or other form of compensation depending on the extent of the problem to pacify an angry customer. And this should be done in a friendly manner to help you achieve service discovery.
4. Take Action! Fix The Problem!
Immediate action should be taken to fix the problem for the customer. This might be easy in some situations where you just have to replace the product, but it might be difficult to manage services (since services are intangible).
For instance how do you fix the problem of a client who was not pleased with your hotel services, a passenger losing his baggage at the airport, the loss of a loved one in a hospital setting?
The next two steps will help to manage such difficult situations.
5. Follow Up.
Follow-up on the problem and make sure it does not repeat itself. Service recovery is not just about fixing the problem but making sure it does not reoccur by proper follow-up.
After follow-up, make additional phone call a day or two to know how they are coping and do everything within the organizations policy to make they're satisfied. And when you hear “thank you”, then you are on your way to re-gaining their confidence in your service.
6. Provide compensation
There are times you have to provide refund, a token or other form of compensation depending on the extent of the problem to pacify an angry customer. And this should be done in a friendly manner to help you achieve service discovery.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Successful Service Recovery Strategies (3)
(continues from last post)
In this moment of truth, you and your employee can apply the following tactics in restoring their confidence in your product/services:
1. Acknowledge the problem.
First thing is to acknowledge that there is a problem. If you try to convince customers that there is no problem, you are actually making them look stupid.
Sometimes the source of the problem might be from the customer. It doesn’t matter. Whether the customer didn’t understand certain aspects that are noticeable from your organization’s point of view or took the wrong step to perform a task, it’s the customer that has a problem and if you want to retain this customer, you need to take him/her serious.
Assuming a customer buys a product/service from you and didn’t properly follow your instructions when using it and something eventually goes wrong. What do you do? Do you scold the customer or proffer a solution?
To be sincere, some problems can be quite difficult to manage but the customer will never understand these. Just acknowledge the problem and proffer a reasonable solution.
2. Empathize with the customer.
Try to understand the problem from the customer’s point of view.Put yourself in their position. Just imagine that you were the one that had the problem.It's only then you'll be committed to helping them out,even the good book says"Love your neighbour as yourself".
Front-line employees, who are the first points of contact with the customers, should try to create an atmosphere that supports and enables a positive solution to a problem.
3. Apologize.
Front-line employees should be trained to apologize to customers even if they are not responsible for the problem and then direct them to the appropriate personnel that will handle the complaints. Saying sorry on behalf of the organization is essential.
I have often heard some employees tell angry customers that it’s not their fault but their colleagues’. I’m not saying it’s wrong to defend yourself, but apologize first and then absolve yourself based on the degree of the problem.
What I mean by degree of problem is that, there are situations where life is involved and after apologizing on behalf of the organization, the person responsible for the problem should be sorted out and disciplined, if necessary.
The truth is that, in most situations, the customer is not interested in who is responsible for the problem but wants solution.
Let me share this story of what happened to me and my friend one evening at an eatery. He placed order for three fried snails but one of the fried snails has sand in it. He took it back and laid the complaint. The first statement from the attendant was, “it’s not my fault. It’s the lady in the afternoon duty that prepared it”.
Of course my friend was not interested in who prepared it. He just wanted a solution. There was no apology, no solution.
(to continued in next post)
In this moment of truth, you and your employee can apply the following tactics in restoring their confidence in your product/services:
1. Acknowledge the problem.
First thing is to acknowledge that there is a problem. If you try to convince customers that there is no problem, you are actually making them look stupid.
Sometimes the source of the problem might be from the customer. It doesn’t matter. Whether the customer didn’t understand certain aspects that are noticeable from your organization’s point of view or took the wrong step to perform a task, it’s the customer that has a problem and if you want to retain this customer, you need to take him/her serious.
Assuming a customer buys a product/service from you and didn’t properly follow your instructions when using it and something eventually goes wrong. What do you do? Do you scold the customer or proffer a solution?
To be sincere, some problems can be quite difficult to manage but the customer will never understand these. Just acknowledge the problem and proffer a reasonable solution.
2. Empathize with the customer.
Try to understand the problem from the customer’s point of view.Put yourself in their position. Just imagine that you were the one that had the problem.It's only then you'll be committed to helping them out,even the good book says"Love your neighbour as yourself".
Front-line employees, who are the first points of contact with the customers, should try to create an atmosphere that supports and enables a positive solution to a problem.
3. Apologize.
Front-line employees should be trained to apologize to customers even if they are not responsible for the problem and then direct them to the appropriate personnel that will handle the complaints. Saying sorry on behalf of the organization is essential.
I have often heard some employees tell angry customers that it’s not their fault but their colleagues’. I’m not saying it’s wrong to defend yourself, but apologize first and then absolve yourself based on the degree of the problem.
What I mean by degree of problem is that, there are situations where life is involved and after apologizing on behalf of the organization, the person responsible for the problem should be sorted out and disciplined, if necessary.
The truth is that, in most situations, the customer is not interested in who is responsible for the problem but wants solution.
Let me share this story of what happened to me and my friend one evening at an eatery. He placed order for three fried snails but one of the fried snails has sand in it. He took it back and laid the complaint. The first statement from the attendant was, “it’s not my fault. It’s the lady in the afternoon duty that prepared it”.
Of course my friend was not interested in who prepared it. He just wanted a solution. There was no apology, no solution.
(to continued in next post)
Monday, June 21, 2010
Successful Service Recovery Strategies (2)
(continued from last post)
1. Anticipate the needs for recovery.
Accepting that even the best designed product or service will fail one day in specific situations is the first step to service recovery. Anticipating potential problems will help organizations to be prepared when the customer contacts the company with a problem.
2. Fast decision making and response.
One of the key success factors to win back customers and restore their trust in your services is to act fast. The whole organization should be designed for agility. There should be a define process that empowers employees, especially the front-line employees that interact more with customer, to make clear decisions and given the freedom to do whatever is necessary in a given situation to ensure that customers are satisfied and at the same time the company does not run at a lost.
3. Train and re-train employees.
The need for training cannot be overemphasized if you want to satisfy and win the loyalty of your customers. Ensure that your training programs includes not just lessons on delivering excellence service but also to include lessons that teach employees to improvise when something goes wrong.
Having put these strategies in place, the reality will stare you in face when a customer actually calls or come in person/group with their dissatisfaction and they will definitely express it in different ways based on their temperament( I’ll write later on types of complainers and how to handle them).
(To be continued)
1. Anticipate the needs for recovery.
Accepting that even the best designed product or service will fail one day in specific situations is the first step to service recovery. Anticipating potential problems will help organizations to be prepared when the customer contacts the company with a problem.
2. Fast decision making and response.
One of the key success factors to win back customers and restore their trust in your services is to act fast. The whole organization should be designed for agility. There should be a define process that empowers employees, especially the front-line employees that interact more with customer, to make clear decisions and given the freedom to do whatever is necessary in a given situation to ensure that customers are satisfied and at the same time the company does not run at a lost.
3. Train and re-train employees.
The need for training cannot be overemphasized if you want to satisfy and win the loyalty of your customers. Ensure that your training programs includes not just lessons on delivering excellence service but also to include lessons that teach employees to improvise when something goes wrong.
Having put these strategies in place, the reality will stare you in face when a customer actually calls or come in person/group with their dissatisfaction and they will definitely express it in different ways based on their temperament( I’ll write later on types of complainers and how to handle them).
(To be continued)
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Successful Service Recovery Strategies (1)
You have a wonderful product and excellent service delivery system. But do you know that despite all you have put in place to give your customer the best possible service, your company/business might fall short of customer’s expectation someday!
What do you do when your customer becomes dissatisfied? Do you have a system in place to make them trust and fall back on you again after the disappointment?
Let me share my experience with you of a business that lost my trust in them because they did not have a service recovery process in place to help pacify angry customers.
I ordered a plate of fried rice and chicken from an eatery which was delivered to my office at the right time and the food was good, but the chicken was not properly cooked. I called the manager and laid my complaint.He said that he was sorry but nothing was done concerning the situation.I expected a replacement, but i think they were more interested in their coffers than satisfying me.
Of course I got angry and stop patronizing them. And guess what? I told all my colleagues and most of them stopped patronizing them too. I’m sure you know the implication of this on their sales.
What is service recovery?
Service recovery deals with the proper management of customers’ dissatisfaction, complaints or problems with your organizations’ products/service that will result in restored confidence and continual patronage.
To implement service recovery programs, proactive organizations should have
a) strategic initiatives in place before the actual problem occurs and
b) tactical activities that should happen after a problem has occurred and the customer lays the complaint.
Let’s look at 3 strategies you should have in place before the problems come.
(to be continued in the next post)
What do you do when your customer becomes dissatisfied? Do you have a system in place to make them trust and fall back on you again after the disappointment?
Let me share my experience with you of a business that lost my trust in them because they did not have a service recovery process in place to help pacify angry customers.
I ordered a plate of fried rice and chicken from an eatery which was delivered to my office at the right time and the food was good, but the chicken was not properly cooked. I called the manager and laid my complaint.He said that he was sorry but nothing was done concerning the situation.I expected a replacement, but i think they were more interested in their coffers than satisfying me.
Of course I got angry and stop patronizing them. And guess what? I told all my colleagues and most of them stopped patronizing them too. I’m sure you know the implication of this on their sales.
What is service recovery?
Service recovery deals with the proper management of customers’ dissatisfaction, complaints or problems with your organizations’ products/service that will result in restored confidence and continual patronage.
To implement service recovery programs, proactive organizations should have
a) strategic initiatives in place before the actual problem occurs and
b) tactical activities that should happen after a problem has occurred and the customer lays the complaint.
Let’s look at 3 strategies you should have in place before the problems come.
(to be continued in the next post)
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