Although many of us were taught that the customer is always right, that may not be the case in some situations. There is a bit of common sense required in determining how to handle a customer relations issue. If it is a small problem, something that won’t cost you a lot of money or time, it may be wise to make the customer the winner in an argument. On the other hand, if the customer is trying to falsely accuse the business of something that it did or did not do right, then you should draw a line in the sand and inform the customer that you are firm in your decision to protect your business and your reputation.
In any situation that you encounter, you must look at it without emotion and determine how to handle it in the most cost effective manner in time and money. If it is a small issue, give the customer something for free, of maybe give them some coupons for compensation for future business.
Sometimes the best customer service solutions are found when a business owner thinks outside of the box. Be as creative as you can. Try to anticipate the other person’s needs. You may have to look at the situation through the customers eyes to find that unique solution.
To be prepared for any customer service issues you can have all of your employees meet and brainstorm ideas to discover possible problems that may arise and then possible solutions to those problems. Not only are you now more prepared to handle customer service issues, your employees are ore aware of how to see the problem from the customers point of view and make better decisions on your behalf. Any business is only as good as it’s worst employee!
In this time of business automation one of the primary complaints by customers is having to deal with are automated systems over the phone. By the time the customer has reached their intended party they are often exasperated and frustrated, which does not bode well for their overall customer service experience.
Sometimes the solution to phone automation for customer service is using a live answering service like ours to handle the initial contact by the customer. Our trained operators can take a message, calm the customer down a bit and forward an email to your customer service department and they can call the customer and solve the problem.