Is your customer service really any good?

All of the SEO marketing and social media marketing you do to drive traffic will not do you any good if your customer service is dropping the ball. All of the expense and hard work that has gone in to building your company can quickly go off the rails if your customer service is unable to handle complaints from angry customers or clients.

•  In today’s lightning fast world of business, everything, for the most part, is being handled online. Rarely do you, or your staff, get to engage a customer on the phone or in person to handle a complaint. Not so anymore. You must engage them where they are and it is a tricky challenge.
• The first things you need to do, and the first thing you need to train your people to do, is to pause and breathe for a moment. Don’t react. It’s about acting and caring not reacting and getting defensive. Then, if the complaint truly is legitimate, you, and your staff must immediately apologize.
• Deal with the complaint directly. Demonstrate that you are aware of their unhappiness and that you wish to resolve it. Get them to move offline if you can. Talking to them directly over the phone has a higher success rate than strictly online.
• If you remain online, you may have an audience. This is your opportunity to show the world how well you are resolving conflict and a customer’s complaint. This carries enormous positive psychological value for the audience. They will see your company as a company that cares about their customers.
• Offer the customer what will make them happy and what will keep them as a customer. Give them their money back or give them a huge discount toward their next purchase. Make it right with them. People expect companies to make mistakes. It’s how you handle them that will set you apart from your competition.

-Written by Kevin Sawyer