Customer Service

[D.Koenemann]

Let's assume :newconfus
Oh man, did I just break one of the most important rules I was ever taught.(-oops-)

Never, I mean never ASSUME anything! I was taught that when you assume all you do is make an ass out of you and me. ASS U ME. I've never forgotten that and try and not violate that little rule.

Now let's get back to business, ok? Let's believe you have a product that you know is good and that people need it or just got to have it.

You have your website all ready for action, killer sales letter, payment processor and all the other bells and whistles. You've even got the traffic starting to come in the door so to speak.

You are making a few sales, things are beginning to look up. Then suddenly out of the clear blue you start running into customer support problems.

Maybe they double clicked at the payment window and got billed twice, or made some other goofy mistake. Now they want you to solve their problem. So what are you gonna do?

If you really want your business to survive and grow, how you handle customer support is very very important. Speed of response is critical. The way that you respond is critical. The remedy of the customers problem is the most critical of all, in my honest opinion.

At all times you must remain polite and professional! Yes that means even when their first contact with you is angry. Maybe they accuse you of being just another rip-off artist. Even when it is they're own mistake that created the problem. You must remain calm cool and professional.

Give them fast response, even if you don't know exactly what the reason for the problem is or was. At least acknowledge your receipt of their correspondence. Assure them that you will promptly look into it for them and remedy the situation to their satisfaction.

Have your site set up with an easy to find address for them to notify you of problems, have an auto responder set-up with a message assuring them of your prompt attention to the matter. Then deal with it in the way that you would expect it to be handled if you were in their shoes. The quicker you attend to these problems the better for you and your business. People like doing business with you when you are attentive to them.

Let's get some feed back from some of you on this.

What do you think is an appropriate time frame to deal with a problem?
How do you handle and angry customer, whether they are right or wrong?
What do you want that customer to remember about his dealings with you?

Let me hear some of your ideas and thoughts, don't be shy, don't worry about whether you might be wrong or right, I am not here to judge you, but I am here to help you be the best you can be. We all learn from one another. Downline4All is about helping one another to succeed. :cool:

Downline4All is gonna rock your world! (-wild-)

D.Koenemann

[sclarke814]

Lets see...

In my opinion an appropriate time frame for dealing with a customers problems is as fast as physically possible. Every problem is unique and will certainly take different amounts of time to resolve. For example...refunding a double payment is a quick click of a button, while restoring a compromised account from previous backups and setting everything back up takes a little more work.

As previously stated an auto responder is vital to success. A customer must be assured that their message has at least been recieved and will be looked at. A help desk program (www.perldesk.com - www.kayako.com - www.cerberusweb.com) is great for organization. These programs sort tickets by the time of reciept and priority, which helps the support time respond in a timely manner.

Everyone gets that pissed off customer...how you handle it is what will make or break you...of course there are those angry customers that are just born angry and can never be satisfied - my advice, patience is a virtue. For everyone else, make sure you actually listen to their problem. Give them the time they need to resolve it. Reassure them that you know what the problem is, explain to them how you will resolve it (in non-techy terms), and then fix it. Good tone in your voice and empathy helps.

"I'm sorry you are experiencing difficulty with ____, I can certainly assist you with that!"

Your customers will remember that you are a great person, and incredible to deal with. That is certainly what you want... :)

End of Customer Service 101 Overview...

;) - S.Clarke

[kmpisces]

What do you think is an appropriate time frame to deal with a problem?: You should always deal with customer problems and complaints as soon as possible. Peopel do not want to wait hours or days for a problem to be solved. Of course, we can only fix problems for our customers as quickly as limitations will allow.


How do you handle and angry customer, whether they are right or wrong?: I always treat an angry customer with kindness, even when they are wrong. I carefully listen to their complaints and discuss issues through with them so they know I am listening and I do care.

What do you want that customer to remember about his dealings with you?: I want my customer to remember that I handled their problem as quickly as possible. I also want them to remember I was very kind and patient with them and went out of my way to help.

[D.Koenemann]

Great input from you Steve and kmpisces!

You both are exactly right on target. If more people will follow this advice they will find it much easier to have positive endings to the problems that arise from time to time.

Through the proper response you can end up with a customer that will always remember how you treated them and hopefully return for future product/service purchases. Also many times that customer will tell others, how prompt, kind and patient you were with them. That is a Win-Win in my view any day! :)

Thanks very much for your responses! :)

D. Koenemann