service recovery | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 6

Home  /  Get Back in the Good Graces – 12/12/17  /  service recovery

Find a Connection Point – Part 2: Situational Connection - 10/4/22


Last week we highlighted key topics to consider when you want to find Personal Connection Points with the customer.  Today, we’ll cover some key questions to ask to uncover information about today’s situation that you can use to establish a rapport with the customer.  This is Part 2 - Read more

Find a Connection Point – Part 1: Personal Connection - 9/27/22


Some people are born almost like a master at communication.  They know how to establish rapport with just about anybody, and they do so in a way that seems so natural and so real.  They can form relationships and be laughing with somebody they met two minutes ago like Read more

Be Proactive without being Pushy - 9/20/22


Delivering great customer service isn’t just about responding and reacting.  It’s also about being proactive.  Developing relationships involves reaching out first, not just extending our hand when somebody reaches out to us. But it’s all too clear that those of us who are in service roles prefer those roles to Read more

Be Kind to Yourself When the Customer Isn’t - 9/13/22


I was having a debrief call with one of my clients recently, and this was regarding a survey of employees who work events.  One of the survey questions asked employees for advice on how to improve the customer experience.  When the employees shared their input on the guest experience, Read more

Being the Emphatic Employee - 9/6/22


Empathy is the key quality of somebody who’s great at customer service.  We talk about it often - what it is, how to convey it, what it looks like, and how it makes the customer feel. But along with knowing how to be empathetic, we also need to know how Read more

The Good, the Really Good, and the Ugly of Customer Service - 8/30/22


Here are three helpful customer service stories.  They may not be from your specific industry, but it’s always good to learn from others. The Good… Paula submitted a ticket to the I.T. vendor.  Below the signature line in the reply she received was the following:  Please share your comments or needs Read more

A Great 2-Minute E-mail - 8/23/22


I know.  You probably get e-mails all the time from customers griping about some aspect of your organization or their experience.  You’ve got too much to do and too little time to do it.  I could not begin to tell you how many times I’ve been told by staff Read more

When They Want to Talk to Your Boss - 8/16/22


“I want to talk to your supervisor.” That’s their opening salvo.  Before you can hardly finish your greeting, the customer is asking for your boss.  This is done by a customer who has tried to get an issue resolved, and it hasn’t worked, so they want to go to somebody Read more

When Passive Voice is a Good Thing - 8/9/22


It’s all your fault, Mr. Customer! We may want to shout it from the rooftops, but other than venting and absolving ourselves of guilt, this wouldn’t help much in the grand scheme of things. We have a customer sitting in front of us or on the phone, and maybe they are Read more

They’re Stressed, So You Can… - 8/2/22


Wow!  That customer looks stressed!  Maybe it’s their body language or their expressions; they could be fidgety or talking really fast. In the past, when we offered guidance in these situations, we focused on how to navigate the conversation step-by-step - what points to cover and what points to avoid. But Read more

•••••

Get Back in the Good Graces – 12/12/17

Posted on December 12, 2017 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


What is “Service Recovery?” I was asked this in a meeting recently when I was describing the approach to take with certain clients. I know it’s a term used a lot but not defined a lot, so let’s define it.

I prefer the literal interpretation – you are recovering from an issue. The way you’re recovering is through customer service. The issue may be a bad experience at your sports event. It may be a rude inspector by your government agency. Maybe it was an excessive wait by the healthcare provider.

Regardless of the issue, the point is that you’re currently “behind the 8-ball” in the eyes of your customer, and you need to recover. You need to get back up, get back in the good graces of the guest who’s upset.

You can avoid the recovery, but you risk still being a scourge in the eyes of the customer. You can recover WITHOUT customer service. That means fixing a product or replacing a part – without a process or personality surrounding that replacement that even remotely conveys “I care” and “I apologize.”

But this is the 21st century. People expect the personalization with the product replacement. They expect the smooth process with the replacement part.

Especially in a service industry, how do you fix a bad experience? How do you fix the interaction with the rude inspector? How do you fix a wait at the hospital?

In short, you can’t. You can’t go back and change what they felt or experienced. You can only move forward and hope they give you a chance in a future encounter. So, you have to create an opportunity for a future encounter with something that smooths over the experience of the past.

That “something” is customer service. Your attitude. Your empathy. Your sincerity. Your response. Your speed. Your action – they all deal with the person wronged in a way that’s right.

When you’re speaking of “Service Recovery,” remember that you’re speaking of what needs to be done to get that upset customer open to becoming a returning customer. And it’s not just about your replacement product. It’s about how you repair the image that person has of your organization.

Deal with the person wronged in a way that’s right.

Signup for FREE Tips!    Contact Us    More Resources for You    Visit Our Home Page

 


To Win or Not to Win? That Isn’t the Question – 9/5/17

Posted on September 5, 2017 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


Joe Customer is complaining, and as I listen to Joe I realize that his story has some of the facts wrong. It was Tuesday, not Thursday. Mary was helping him, not Marie. This situation hasn’t happened to him “100 times.”

He’s wrong, and I know he’s wrong, and – what’s more – I’m right! I’m going to prove those facts are wrong. I’m going to win this argument, which – sorry for Joe – means that he’s going to lose.

This reaction is coming from my gut. And while that reaction may be right, my response needs to be different. My response shouldn’t be a matter of deciding who’s going to win an argument because who really cares who wins the argument? What does it matter who wins an argument? And why would I want to be a part of an argument in the first place?

Those are really the key questions to ask ourselves.

We’ve dealt with enough upset customers and heard enough stories soaked in misstatements. When dealing with a service recovery situation and/or an upset customer, we need to keep the right personal goal in mind.

The personal goal shouldn’t be to engage in and win an argument with a customer. Our personal goal should focus on listening, learning, and moving on.

By listening, we handle emotions better, taking the focus off of ourselves (and thereby avoiding defensiveness) and move it to the other person. By learning, we apply the lessons of the situation, the person, the root cause to the future. By moving on, we don’t let the difficulties of today negatively impact our attitudes or outlook for tomorrow.

Avoid the desire to argue and to win the debate.

Instead, engage to listen, learn, and move on.

Signup for FREE Tips!    Contact Us    More Resources for You    Visit Our Home Page


Drive Down the Drama – 8/29/17

Posted on August 29, 2017 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


The same situation could happen to two different customers – it’s the delayed delivery, the unreturned phone call, the poor workmanship, or the indifferent employee encounter.

With the customer named Dena, it’s not a big concern. She just wants to get it rectified quickly and move on; however, with the customer named Dana – it’s a federal crime, punishable by jail time, 50 lashes with a wet noodle, a good stern talking-to, and about 500 poor ratings on Yelp.

Dena offers reasonableness. Dana offers drama.

We can’t control the customer’s reaction, but oftentimes the company’s response to that reaction makes it worse. Instead of driving down the drama, the company amplifies it. The company’s response becomes an even bigger issue than the original complaint.

So how do we drive down the drama? In Service Recovery, here are several key tips:

  • Remain totally engaged with the customer. Do not ever appear distracted or disinterested. Remember, drama creates attention (and dramatic people crave attention) – give them attention in a positive manner.
  • Avoid taking any hyperbole or negativity to heart. Dramatic people can exaggerate. Don’t ignore the real customer concern because you’re upset about (or disagree with) the noise that surrounds it.
  • Move fast to identify the issue and resolution. Speed is a huge asset in stemming the dramatic tide.
  • Remember that drama is another way of describing emotion. Use tips for defusing customers that we’ve suggested in the past such as listening, asking fact-based questions, offering empathy, and apologizing (if appropriate) on behalf of the organization.
  • Help them to feel important by literally saying they’re important such as “I want to help you. Resolving your issue is important to me. It’s important that we get this right for you.”

 
We don’t want to encourage drama – we want to mitigate it. And although in customer service we’re often looking to do something great, sometimes the best approach with drama is to find ways to avoid making it worse.

Drive Down the Drama.

Signup for FREE Tips!    Contact Us    More Resources for You    Visit Our Home Page

 


« Previous   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 17 18   Next »