3 Very Costly C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E M I S TA K E S
We all know there are many costly customer service and sales mistakes. My job is to find the top priorities in that list. Our list is long, however, these 3 rise to the top. Share with all your team. Leave NO ONE OUT. Not training a back-office employee is a mistake. Or thinking “oh, they don’t talk to customers” – is a bigger one.
1
3
M I S TA K E
M I S TA K E
NOT SMILING
NOT ACKNOWLEDGING A CUSTOMER’S REQUEST OR PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY
IMMEDIATELY REJECTING A REQUEST
Insanely simplistic. On the phone or in person, we need to understand why a smile works – because you can hear a smile. Don’t feel like smiling? Well, smile anyway. The customer doesn’t care if you feel like smiling or not. It’s better to have the customer think your office is closed than to have the phone answered or greet someone in a negative mood.
56
2
M I S TA K E
Rapid response. Requests and problems need to be handled sooner than later. Delaying a request or not immediately acknowledging it can cause more problems than the original request.
FranchiseDictionaryMagazine.com
Be a double-checker. It’s easy to tell people right off: “We don’t have it”, “Sorry, it’s past the deadline” or “We ran out of that report.” Instead, use a soft rejection: Something like: “The last time I checked it wasn’t available, let me double-check for you.” This simple statement immediately defuses some of the tension of not being able to fulfill a request. And often when we do doublecheck, we find a way to get what the person wanted after all.
