Great Businesses Benefit from Providing Good Customer Service

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If you are a business owner, I would like you to think about the following question:

Is providing good customer service essential to your business?

If the answer is yes, then I suggest you continue reading this post because I want to bring to your attention something that I think that all businesses–whether they are online, brick and mortar, or corporations–are guilty of.

They sometimes take their customers for granted by not providing good customer service.

What do I mean by this? Here is a case in point:

One afternoon, I went to my cable service provider’s customer service center to get a new cable box. When I arrived there, I could not believe my eyes.  The service center was packed; there had to be at least 100 to 150 people waiting for service. The security guard who was giving out ticket numbers which designated your place in line for service told me that I would have a two and a half hour wait. I received ticket # 517; the next number to be called was #450. While I was waiting for service, the following observations disturbed me:

  1. The room temperature was very hot and stuffy; I don’t think the air conditioner was on.
  2. There were several elderly persons waiting for service, and they had to stand for long periods of time because all available seats were taken. No attempt was made by service personnel to make the elderly customers more comfortable while they were waiting for service.
  3. As more and more people kept coming into the already overcrowded service center, I was becoming more concerned about the occupancy rate. In case of emergency, how could all these people get out safely?  There was only one way in and one way out.
  4. No cable service center employee or manager was made available to explain the reason for the long waiting time for service. It seemed as if no one cared about the overcrowded condition and long wait times customers had to endure to get service.
The breaking point came when one of the customers complained and demanded that he be allowed to speak to the manager or supervisor. The customer put up so much fuss that the security guards got the supervisor to come out and speak to him. The customer asked the supervisor basic questions, such as:                                                                        Angry Customer clipart
What is the reason for the long delay for service?  Where is the manager of the service center and what is his/her name? Is this (long delays in getting service) what you call good customer service?
When the customer asked the supervisor for his name, the supervisor refused to give his full name, stating that it is against company policy to give customers an employee’s full name. He said employees are only allowed to give out their first name and ID#.
The customer then stated to the supervisor that he was going to take pictures of the overcrowded condition in the service center and write a complaint letter to the cable service provider CEO. The supervisor told him that he cannot take any pictures inside the service center. The customer responded by saying, “That is a lot of BS; I can take a picture if I want to; I can even take pictures from the outside as well”.
The supervisor, who was extremely reluctant to give his name and ID#, did give it to the customer. The customer then proceeded to take pictures of the overcrowded condition from the outside as he said he would. I don’t know whether or not the customer filed a formal complaint, but I think that some valuable lessons can be learned.                           

Customer Service clipart      Good Customer Service Tips   

  1. A customer considers his/her time very valuable. Every effort should be made to make sure that each customer’s needs are met as soon as reasonably possible. A happy customer is a returning customer who may recommend your service or product to others.
  2. A customer expects to be treated with dignity and respect at all times. It is never okay to argue with a customer, even if the customer is verbally abusive or dead wrong. If a customer feels that he/she has been mistreated or given poor service, that customer will most likely tell others about the experience. Each dissatisfied customer will tell on average 10 people about it, who in turn will tell 10 more people about it, and so on.
  3. A customer wants to believe that you actually care about him/her. Customers are not just names and numbers; they are human beings who are intelligent and have feelings.  Customers, for the most part, consider themselves important.  I think that even if for some reason you cannot give a customer what he/she wants, you can somehow make the customer understand why, and he/she does not feel mistreated, then you have provided good customer service.
  4. Periodically evaluate customer satisfaction. This can be done by using customer satisfaction surveys–by phone or online. While a business should always focus on getting new customers, that business should never take its current customers for granted by ignoring or forgetting them. Just because they may be your customers today, does not guarantee that they will be your customers forever.

It is my sincere hope that this post has given you some thought about improving your customer service standards. However, I do not have all the answers; there is much more information about this topic in Wealthy Affiliate. This is an online community of network marketers who are dedicated to helping each other learn how to run a successful business online. Click here to see an example of the type of training that is provided regarding customer service.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions; I will be happy to help.

To your success,

Deidre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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6 thoughts on “Great Businesses Benefit from Providing Good Customer Service

  1. Very interesting post – any business ignores customer service at its peril.
    BTW I sincerely hope the cable company in your example either improves drastically,
    or goes out of business!
    Regards and good luck

    • Deidre says:

      Hi JohnV,

      I doubt that the cable company will go out of business because of this one incident; it’s too big. I guess that’s part of the problem. As businesses grow larger and larger, they have a tendency to care more about the profit margin and less about its customers. I have not been back to the customer service center since that incident took place. I hope that that day was just an aberration and not the norm. Thanks for your comment.
      Deidre

  2. Deidre, I love your Good Customer Service Tips. I always try and remind myself that I too, am a customer in many situations. This helps me to see both points of view – as the business owner and as a customer. For example, “if I were in my customers shoes, how would I feel in this situation”. Empathy can go a long way. Thank you for a very useful and informative article.

    • Deidre says:

      Hi Annie,
      I think good customer service basically comes down to “treating others as you would like to be treated”. As long as business owners can keep that in mind, then they should not have much difficulty in keeping their customers satisfied. Thanks for your comment.

    • admin says:

      I agree, providing customer service is a lot easier said than done especially when dealing with difficult customers. Like you, I am not confrontational and I do not like customers or anyone else to be angry with me. However, I do my best to make sure that I am doing all that I can to achieve customer satisfaction. Thanks for your comment.

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