Mastering Customer Service

If you run any kind of business, or if you are trying to get into customer service itself, you will have to master it. The key to customer service, just like with so many other things in life is doing unto others as you would want them to do to you. We will go over how this translates to serving your customers through conflict resolution. By the end of this section, you will be able to deal with customer concerns and interactions in general like an expert.

The most important thing you need to keep in mind when dealing with customer problems or concerns is that you want to make them as comfortable as possible, and you want them to trust you and ultimately the company again. Even if they are still mad at the company you can turn a customer into a friend that truly appreciates how genuine and helpful you are. A long time ago, I called cancelled customers for a lawn care company, and I was number one in the country for that company. The reason for this was because I would apologize profusely on behalf of the company and make the customers feel like I would be their new point of contact and take care of everything they need, which I would! I put myself in their shoes and showed them that I would feel the same way and that I personally would never let it happen again. This is the attitude that you have to have in order to maintain an amazing reputation as a business and drive new customers just by word of mouth.

We will play out these principles step by step for dealing with conflict resolution for customers. The First step is to simply listen. This sounds simple enough, but we sometimes get in the habit of thinking of what our response is while someone is speaking. Apologize for the trouble they are having and ask how you can help them. You should also repeat a summary of what they are telling you every now and then to show that you are in fact listening and that you care about their concern. If someone is being rude, you should simply say I completely understand you are frustrated, I would be too. But please let me help, I know I can come up with a solution to this.

The next step once you have heard out your customer’s problem is to apologize on behalf of the company and show them that these are not the standards or values your business stands for. Make them feel heard and show them how much you value your customers. Once you have gotten this point across briefly you should jump into a solution without even stopping to let them answer. This shows that solving the problem is your top priority, you value their time and business and that you understand what can make it right. Make sure that the resolution matches the problem that your customer had. If you had them waiting all day for some reason or you ruined a belonging of theirs for example, you do not want to offer something cheap like a $20 gift card. Make sure that your resolution would make you calmer and satisfied if you were in the customers shoes.

Once you have solved an issue for a customer, you should thank them for their patience and business sincerely and let them know that you are personally there for them anytime they have an issue. Depending on your position, I love to give them my personal number if they are a recurring customer so they can call me personally if they ever have an issue. Little things like this can really show that you care and create a lifelong customer.