Saying that your company’s customer service is great isn’t what will make it great. Your team members need to provide exceptional customer service, and your company needs to hold up its end of the deal by providing top-notch quality.

Some tips from Susan Ward for providing great service, as listed online at www.about.com, are:

 

• Deal with complaints expeditiously. Make sure you have enough time in your schedule to follow-up with customers and complete all the steps necessary to resolve any issues they have. When a customer is waiting for you to resolve a problem, don’t let him stew. Help him right away so he can feel good about his experience with your company.
• Show up on time for appointments. Making customers wait is bad customer service. When you schedule the appointment, give yourself enough time to arrive on time or early. When you’re prepared and ready to begin, your professionalism will shine through and keep your customers happy.
• Don’t make promises unless you know you will keep them. If you can’t provide a product or service by a certain time, then don’t give that time. Be sure to give yourself a little extra wiggle room in case something goes wrong. The customer will appreciate your foresight.
• Avoid passing the buck. Try to handle your customers without transferring them to someone else. Customers can become frustrated when they get passed to another person. Instead of transferring, ask the customer to wait on hold and find out the answer to his question yourself. If you absolutely must transfer your customer, call ahead to explain the situation to the person you are transferring him to. If you’re working with your customer in person, walk him to where he needs to go and explain his issue.

Filed under: Customer Service Corner