|
|
| Customer Service Tip | Skills | Information | Articles |
|
Responding to Complaints
It's possible that in the course of your business dealings, you may (just may) have to deal with a complaint from a customer or client .... There are two ways you can go about this: 1. You can stand up for your rights (and lose the customer and any possible referrals) 2. You can keep your temper and keep your customer REPLIES TO COMPLAINTS Most businesses these days have (or should have) as their policy that the customer is always right. It's far better business sense to replace a couple of items which don't need replacing, and reap the reward of customer satisfaction and possible referrals, than to insist on your rights and lose unknown numbers of customers and referrals. So, the aim of your response to an irate customer is to find out what he/she wants and to give it to him/her. Even if the request appears to be entirely unreasonable, what you earn in Brownie Points, often makes up for what you lose in replacing the item (unless of course it's a Maserati or the like!). HOW TO RESPOND 1. Express regret, sincerely. Don't say, "We can't understand how this happened," because this implies that the customer is careless or stupid, since no-one else has had this trouble. 2. Explain how the trouble occurred. Your customer is entitled to know what went wrong (this also reflects well on your business, since it shows that you've taken the complaint seriously enough to investigate it thoroughly, and we all like to be taken seriously). 3. Tell the customer what you are going to do to rectify the situation. The best thing to do is exactly what the customer said he wanted. If this is totally impossible, suggest a viable alternative. Sometimes the customer will be at fault, by forgetting to include a correct address or leaving out the cheque etc. Again, don't write anything that might make the customer feel silly. NOT "... you failed to enclose your cheque ..." BUT "Your goods are packed and ready for despatch. Immediately on receipt of your cheque, which apparently was overlooked in your original letter, we shall send them as requested." Sometimes, it's just not possible to give the customer what he wants; and in this case you must exercise extreme tact in the wording of your letter. The best way of refusing is as follows: 1. Begin with the refusal. I know it's painful, but it's far better to let your customer know how things stand from the very beginning. 2. Explain, in detail, why the request had to be refused. This way, you have the rest of your letter to try to set things right with your customer, and hopefully to end on a positive note (rather than hitting him with the refusal at the end). Note: ? the expression of regret should sound sincere. "I am sorry..." sounds better than the colder, "I regret to inform you " ? point out all the reasons for refusing the request ? soften the blow by offering some small consideration. It might be a discount on the next purchase; a voucher for a smaller item (a scarf, tie etc); a complimentary gizmo from another business (with whom you have a reciprocal arrangement); flowers; tickets to a film or whatever. Such sweeteners are worth much more than their cost. Instead of a disgruntled customer, blackening your name, you'll have a happy person, willing to tell everyone her story's happy ending. Listeners will see your side and will say things like, " ...well, they didn't have to do anything really, but wasn't it nice of them?" N.B. If the spelling of words like "cheque" in this article worried you, please read this: http://www.write101.com/aus.htm Jennifer Stewart is a professional writer who offers home study courses, copy writing, proof-reading and editing services for businesses and individuals from her site at http://www.write101.com You can subscribe to free Writing Tips to improve your writing: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or read numerous articles on how to write well - for profit or pleasure.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
We Got It Wrong: Never Under Promise & Over Deliver You know how it is, you believe something for so long, everyone agrees with you, all the books tell you it's true and then suddenly you have a blinding revelation - we've all been duped! You know like my gorilla mates were? (If you're not sure about my gorilla mates then you really need to read the book - we've got a great offer on at the moment!) How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch! Welcome to the inaugural issue of Human Tech Tips -- Tip #1. How do we take your customer service and kick it up a notch? Customer Service - How Good Are YOU? At 8.30 am a wealthy client (on his way to make a presentation to the local council at 9 am) walked into a store that sells photocopiers. They also provide a copy service. He wanted to make a back-up copy of his lengthy presentation. Customers - Hold Onto the Ones Youve Got You probably spend a great deal of your time looking for new customers or clients. However, are you sure your doing enough to hold onto the ones you've got. You MUST Sweat the Small Stuff It's The Little Things That Make or Break a Small Business Poor Customer Service - Are Your Customers Driving Away Other Customers Every customer you have is a word-of-mouth advertiser for you. Unfortunately 90% of this free advertising is negative. Your goal is to get positive-word-of-mouth advertisers. How to Easily Increase Your Profits Do you remember the last time you went into a shop and the person 'serving' raced over to you, greeted you with a lovely smile, heaps of enthusiasm and said, "Welcome to our store, what can I help you with today?" And then listened attentively to what you had to say? Customer Service Is More Than Just Being Nice To People Many organizations tackle to the issue of customer service by exhorting their employees to speak with a smile. Be polite. Never lose your cool. But isn't that a little like closing the barn door after the horses have gotten out? Good customer service should be about a good customer experience with your product. This begins with the relationship your company cultivates with a customer. Have You Hugged a Customer Today? It all started a couple of weeks ago when a friend asked me if I could scan and print some of her slides. No problem, I said. Five Tips to Calm Cranky Customers 1. Tis the Season Ten Ways to Help You Improve Your Customer Service 1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Justas it is bad news to send out too many emails to customers,it is just as bad to not stay in contact with them.Customers don't want to feel abandoned. So don't. Listen to Suggestions If you are up to your ears in a stressful situation, it becomes difficult to think clearly. Sometimes, it is best to walk away from a problem, and think about it, rather than try to solve it with an instant solution. Sales Marketing: 10 High Impact Ways To Improve Your Customer Service If you want to last a long time in business and succeed, you must learn how to make your customers happy. Improving Customer Service Improving customer service starts at the top - with us owners and managers. We need to be living pictures of how we want our staff to treat customers. Having 10 plus years operating, owning and working in the food business and being a customer myself, I know what good customer service looks like. If I don't place a high value on the best customer service possible, then my staff won't make it a priority either. Is your Online Business Customer-Friendly? Customer service is increasingly seen as one of the most valuable uses for a commercial World Wide Web site. Your Web site is available on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis. So it is well worth exploring ways in which your customers can virtually "serve themselves," without the need for overtime staff, or lengthy voice mail procedures. 4 Myths about Customer Value The purpose of business is to create and retain a customer. Businesses Need to Rehumanise Big companies and corporations have lost the human touch. The question is, when will humanity catch on, or like robotic sheep will we do whatever the business shepherds tell us, no matter how bad we are treated? I am talking from firsthand interaction here. Aren't you tired of having to talk to machines and sit waiting in queues that may not even really exist, while horrible music repeats itself over and over for eternity? How about having to talk to person after person as they try to find someone else who 'can' do the task that you need done? What about the machine that tells you to speak into the phone but can never properly interpret what you are saying? Or pushing buttons, how many numbers have you had to push before finally being told that the section you are looking for is vacant? Vacant, how about the humans you do finally get in contact with but for some strange reason know less about their job than you do? Loyalty Programs May Keep Customers Coming Back ? But First You?ve Got to Earn their Trust Remember trading stamps? If you're over 40, chances are you will. Every time you shopped at a participating grocery store or gas station they gave you stamps to paste into a book. When you'd accumulated enough stamps, you could cash them in for "free" gifts. Foolproof Customer Service Strategies (That Only A Fool Would Try!) Ever notice how customer service varies from store to store? You walk into some stores, and before you can say "Buzz off!" a salesperson asks "May I help you?" The History of CRM -- Moving Beyond the Customer Database Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the business world in the 1990's with the promise of forever changing the way businesses small and large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to be an unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. First among these was that it was simply so difficult and expensive to track and keep the high volume of records needed accurately and constantly update them.
|
|
|
| Home | Site Map | Salesmanship Ebook | Motivational Ebook | Job and Resume Posting| Affiliate program | |
กก |
| 2006 All Rights Reserved. by Mp.sg Term of use and service for the articles and information |