3 Keys to Great Customer Service

There’s no doubt about it. Customer service teams plays a critical role in every organization. What you say and do is what your customers remember and tell other folks. Remember what Sam Walton said, “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

In today’s tough business environment, losing customers to your competition because of poor service simply isn’t an option. The ability to amaze your clients with great customer service is the advantage your organization needs to attract and retain customers. In fact, it has to be!

But the truth is when facing tighter-than-ever budgets, fewer people and more work and more pressure than ever before, customer service can sometimes get lost in the chaos.  Your team is feeling the heat and so are you. But by taking the time to consider these 3 timeless customer service secrets, you can insure that the boss, the customer, is pleased with your performance.

Know How to Deal With People Over the Phone and Face-to-Face

It’s easy to deal with people who are just like you. But when a customer has a personality different from yours—and acts and thinks differently than you do—your job gets tougher. Handling people, especially ones with a difficult personality, often depends on the method of interaction.

Face-to-face

• Maintain eye contact
• Keep smiling
• Use good posture
• Keep your hands away from your mouth
• Don’t chew gum or eat food
• Focus on your customer, not other tasks
• See body movements and facial expressions and hear voice intonations
• Build rapport by mimicking the other person’s actions

Phone-to-phone

• Question thoroughly and repeat what you think you heard
• Use voice power, pitch, pace and intonation to get your point across
• Stay in control

Use the Right Language

How often have you had a piece of luggage misplaced at the airport and been told, ‘We’ll try to find it’? Or in response to a query concerning delivery been told, ‘We’ll try to have it there tomorrow’? One of the great truths of customer service is that
people do not care what you will try to do—they want to know what you will do. There is always something you can do, if only to say, ‘I’ll get back to you by 2:00 this afternoon.’ Keep your customers happy by using positive words rather than negative ones. They make customers feel valued. The following phrases are examples that employees should know and use often.

• I appreciate your business.
• I’ll finish the job by …
• When I deliver the product, it will be exactly what you ordered.
• I’ll deliver it on time.
• I’ll keep you informed.
• It’s my responsibility.
• Is there anything else I can help you with?
• I can fix that problem.
• I don’t know, but when can I get back to you with the answer?
• I’ll follow up to make sure you’re still happy.

Learn to Say ‘NO”

In the real world, customers sometimes are wrong—on top of being rude, unreasonable and obnoxious. It’s time to learn a new, realistic way to think about complaints and complaining customers and put them in perspective. It’s about offering alternatives, giving the customers choices and focusing on what you can provide—not what you can’t.

Try using this three-step process for saying ‘no’.

1. Acknowledge their request.
Say something to recognize their request. Make a short comment to let them know that you heard them and you are considering what they said.

2. Clarify your circumstance.
Tell them a little bit about your own situation. Be brief. Mention what it is that keeps you from being able to honor their request.

3. Transform your refusal into a positive.
Suggest alternatives or make a comment that reaffirms the relationship such as: ‘Some other time.’

Put them all together and you have a three-step ‘no’: ‘It sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately I have other priorities. Perhaps next time I can.’