The lifeblood of your business is the money you make from your customers. Without it, obviously, it will stop working. Customers can be fickle, but they can also be staunch loyalists to your product. Some of their loyalty can be earned by what you sell, but most of it is how they are treated through thick and thin. Think about your business processes and policies when it comes to customer service. Is there a place that could be a potential point of frustration? More importantly, if this wasn’t your business, would you be happy to be treated like your customers?
Bureaucracy is a huge potential hurdle in dealing with customers. Perhaps your company is so large that you can’t really put the personal touch on it, or maybe your employee base can’t be trusted to make the best decisions. In either case, there must be strict guidelines and policies in place to ensure that the business functions properly. Unfortunately, this leaves you open to customer relationship problems.
For example, take a look at a once-loyal Sears customer who ran into a web of red tape, not because of a product return or complaint, but because he wanted to make a purchase. Basically, due to problems ordering online, he was unable to purchase a $ 1,500 tractor. After a multitude of calls with employees, customer service, and supervisors, he went to Lowes.
The Sears online store was unable to successfully complete a credit card transaction, or possibly the problem was a failure in communications between the store and the shipment. Regardless, not a single employee felt the need to make the sale. As it seems, Sears as a company needs all the sales it can get, but this customer’s money, and all of his future business, is gone forever.
Another trouble spot is between your customers, your employees, and money. Refunds happen all the time and should be treated like the common event that they are. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, told his employees to accept any returns, even if they were not purchased at Wal-Mart. The reason he gave was that if they gave them money and good customer service, customers would take their refund and spend it at the store … then they would come back again and again.
Of course, Wal-Mart has a very diversified product list and this attitude cannot be replicated in any business, but the concept is worth its weight in gold. Most customer issues that arise after the sale have a receipt as ground zero. Your receipt is a binding contract with the consumer that says you sold something for which they paid you in return. As a result of this contract, you must respect that little piece of paper. Sometimes the receipt isn’t even there, but the ghost of the contract still hangs over your employee and your customer. Your livelihood is at stake if you do anything less than go the extra mile to solve the problem.
Take, for example, a customer dealing with Zales. She bought some wedding rings on a payment plan and due to the lack of credit card equipment in the store, she had to pay cash every month in person. Now this already shows a lack in the modern consumer’s consideration, but it is not so bad in and of itself. The problem arose after the customer made a payment of $ 160, received their receipt, and left. Within days, the store manager called to say that his video team had recorded the employee putting very few invoices on the record. Despite proof of receipt of full payment, the manager wanted the customer to pay $ 100 to make up the shortage.
Many things are passed on to the consumer, such as state and federal taxes, shipping costs, and price fluctuations. One thing that should NEVER be conveyed is incompetence, bad attitude, or mistakes from employees. If it’s not the customer’s fault, don’t try to do it. Any small monetary gains that you can make in the short term, you will lose much more when your client takes your money elsewhere.
Customer service is a balance between diplomacy, flexibility and action. No matter how unfair the situation may seem, you need to look ahead and weigh the short-term gain against the relationship you will build by making your customer happy. Never forget that an angry customer is easy to spot, but it is the quiet, abused customer who will simply smile at poor customer service and never give you your money again.
