E-Archive

From Editor's Desk

in Vol. 14 - November Issue - Year 2013
Good Customer Service...

The quality of a product may be excellent and sophisticated, but if a company does not know how to communicate with its customers, the best products are doomed to fail. Very often, some very basic rules as far as customer service are neglected, underestimating the consequences it has for your business. On top of that, in many cases, an improved customer service does not increase cost, since resources are already available.

Answer your company phone:
Try to make sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business. People who call want to talk to a live person, not a fake "recorded robot". If it is not possible to hire or have a person taking care of the phone, use call-forwarding or rent an answering service.

Don't make promises unless you will keep them:
Do not plan to keep them. Genuinely keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. If you say, ¡§I will get back to you by next week", make sure you do so. Otherwise, do not say it. The same rule applies to client appointments, deadlines, etc.

Listen to your customers:
Is there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or what your problem is and then discovering that that person hasn't been paying attention, and needs to have it explained again? Let your customer talk, try not to interrupt, and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the problem.

Deal with complaints:
No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, "You can't please all the people all the time". Perhaps not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time - and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.

If you apply these simple rules consistently, your business will become known for its good customer service. This not only brings you more customers, it usually does not even require any investment as well!

Best Regards
Andrzej Wojtas (Ph.D.), Chief Editor of MFN, E-mail: andrzej@mfn.li