Resolving Customer Service Issues

Providing excellent customer service after a sale is essential to maintaining strong relationships with customers. Starting at the closing, tell customers that they should feel free to call you any time to discuss any problems or questions related to your products.

If a customer has a problem with a product purchased from you, try to see this situation as an opportunity. If you can demonstrate to customers that you really are committed to helping with their problems, they will think more highly of you, your company, and your commitment to customer service.

This is another example of a way that you can turn a potentially negative situation into a positive one. “Customer Service” is a lot more than just a phrase. When a customer comes to you or calls you, it is important not to simply play lip service to their enquiries.

Should a customer complain to you that a purchase they have made from you is not living up to their expectations, your first response should be to get to the heart of their complaint. Your response should be along the lines of “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that – what is the problem?”. From their response to this, you should be able to think of a few solutions to that.

There are three elements to be taken account of in your response to a customer problem – efficiency, politeness and thoroughness.

All customers with complaints will want their problem to be dealt with speedily. In doing this you need to find the right balance between “too quick” and “too slow”. Many people take an attitude to problem solving which seems to suggest that the last thing they want to be doing is dealing with problems as it holds them back from going to do what they consider to be their “real job”.

However, the way that you deal with problems has a real impact on customer retention. It is best to deal with them quickly, but to be fully aware of what the customer wants before going straight into a process of solving the problem.

The above point is linked to politeness – naturally you will want to solve any problem quickly, but if you do not pay attention to what the customer wants and needs, and take the time to apologize for any problems then they will feel like you resent them taking up your time.

Without a reasonable, polite attitude from you, they may well simply wait for their problem to be solved and then take their leave of you. If you are polite and understanding, this will stick in their mind. It is essential to consider that the final impression given to a person is the one that will resonate most. If they have a problem with an item but you solved it, and did so quickly and politely, then it will be the latter fact that stays with them.

The final point is that you must be thorough with your problem solving. From the nature of a customer’s problem you will either know how to solve it so that it does not reoccur, or know someone who will be able to do this.

There is sometimes a tendency to go for a quick fix (“Have you tried turning it off and then on again?”) – but this is far from advantageous, as the chances are that the problem will be back again before too long.

This will not help the customer, and will not help you retain the customer. If you deal with the problem quickly, politely and completely they will be happy to come back again when they have another purchase to make, and their overall impression of your company will be “When I had a problem, they solved it”.