June 25th, 2011 Hello!

Superb customer service is key to make loyal advocates out of your customers.

In this issue:

1. OUCH! That hurt...

2. CustomerServicePoint.com Info

OUCH! That hurt...

by Erwin Steneker.

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from one of my visitors, giving me a kick firmly in my behind:

"Invalidation

Three failures of follow-up invalidate much of the goodwill that a successful sales process engenders. Failing to follow through on a major purchase allows buyer's remorse to set in. Failure to follow through on a promised action invalidates any concern the customer felt you had for them and plunges their mood downwards. So does failure to deliver the quality or quantity of product in the time specified.

Here's one what you called the sins. I requested your newsletter quite some time ago and so far have received no further communication or for that matter no news letter. What happened?"

OUCH!

Sadly, he's right. What you may not know is that Customer Service Point is a hobby site for me, and when I started my own business 2 years ago, it took up all my time... and I neglected my hobby in favor of doing business. Understandable, I think, but still...

Unfortunately, I didn't just neglect the website (which I still think holds lots of value, even when I don't work on it day and night anymore), I also neglected you, my subscriber. It was not my intention, but it happened anyway.

This message made me do a lot of soul searching. What to do? This was just one message, just one subscriber, so I could ignore it and go about my ways as I have always done. But I couldn't bring me to do that... and I tell you why:

It. Is. True.

But many companies (the bigger the badder) choose to make this a numbers game. One complaint? ignore. Thousands? Hmmm.... this may become a PR nightmare so we should act. It's not about doing the right thing, but doing the most cost-effective thing. In fact (and I know this from experience) many a customer service rep isn't even allowed to help a customer in any way that costs money, without approval of a supervisor.

Empowering the customer service person to make the judgement call, to do what's right for the customer, is the exception, not the rule. Which is unfortunate. Because this would actually allow them to be helpful to customers in a meaningful way. Which in turn might turn a disgruntled customer in a loyal one.

Customer Service reps won't 'give away the store'. Most have a pretty good sense of fairness. So if a customer makes an outrageous claim, one that isn't really fair to the company, they really won't allow it to happen. If your customers are your most valuable assets, why not allow your customer facing representatives (called that way, because they really represent the company to the customer) to do the right thing?

Fortunately, I can make my own calls. And I've thought long and hard about whether I should continue the newsletter, or let you know that I'm done with it.

Well, it turns out that I'm not done. You deserve more, so you should get more. Customer Servings deserves to be served. ;-)

So watch this space. To be continued! (I'll totally understand it if you decide to call it quits. But I hope you won't!)

CustomerServicePoint.com Info

Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/CustomerLover

Special Request:
If you like Customer Servings, and know somebody that would benefit from the articles I write, why not click the "Forward" button and send it to that person? Note: do remove the "unsubscribe" links at the bottom before sending... we had some reports of people being unsubscribed by folks they send their e-mail to!

If you received this newsletter from someone you know, but aren't yet subscribed, I invite you to subscribe to Customer Servings! I won't share your e-mail address with anyone. Scout's honor!

_____________

Customer Servings is the newsletter for www.customerservicepoint.com, your resource on improving customer service. The newsletter is sent at irregular intervals.

Customer Servings is for you! If you have any suggestions for subjects you would like to see in future issues, or have comments in general on Customer Servings or Customer Service Point, please contact us. We welcome your remarks!

(C) 2011, Erwin & Marjan Steneker You may use original articles in Customer Servings, if you attach the following bio (including the link): Erwin & Marjan Steneker are passionate about good customer service, check out their website at http://www.customerservicepoint.com/