I’m sure we’ve all experienced excellent customer service, horrible customer service and a whole spectrum in between. Customer service basics seem to have gone by the wayside. For some reason many people in customer service have never been trained how to give good service. Sure they’ve been trained how to use the cash register or any number of other tasks that their job requires, but how to interact positively with a customer wasn’t part of training and it should be because it is obvious that some just don’t get it.
No worries, I have taken it upon myself to give you the Top 10 Tips of Customer Service:
- Acknowledge a customer. No, rolling your eyes at them does not count! Say hello, smile (even if you’re on the phone), and get on with helping them.
- Listen to them. Sure you may hear the same questions a hundred times in a day, but this is the first time that this particular person has asked it, so don’t cut them off and blurt out an answer.
- Help them. You are there to guide them through the process. Be informed and informative.
- Be personable, but not personal. There is a difference between being friendly and courteous and over-sharing. The customer doesn’t need to know what is going on in your personal life. Perhaps telling them about the bender you went on last night is not necessary.
- Keep it professional. Do not take personal phone calls or text while you are supposed to be helping someone. You’re at work for cryin’ out loud!
- The customer is always right, NOT! We all know the customer is not always right. Some customers are just plain wrong, but there is no point in fighting with them. Again, listen to them, explain whatever needs to be explained,and if you can’t resolve the situation, find someone who makes more money than you (i.e. a supervisor) to deal with the disgruntled customer.
- Take your breaks. Yup, you need a break. Dealing with people and their needs all day can be draining. Take all of your designated breaks and use them as a break, not to catch up on work.
- If you are sick, call in sick. No one wants to be helped by someone who looks or sounds like they are at death’s door. It ruins the whole experience.
- Be patient. Not everyone is as brilliant as you are. Cut them some slack.
- Serve others as you would have them serve you. At some point or another, we are all customers. Treat customers the way you like to be treated when you are a customer.
These are my top 10 customer service tips, what would be on your list?
Seriously, where has customer service gone? Love your list. I would have to say “just be nice” is the main thing!
Nice goes a long way.
Great tips for those serving customers, and most of them are good ones for the customers to follow also to ensure a pleasant, positive exchange.
Oh, I could write a whole other post on how to behave as a customer and you are right much of the same advice would apply.
Those are great tips! I used to teach a class in customer service for bank employees. Another tip is to acknowledge the customer’s feelings. “I can understand that you’re upset; I would be, too. Let’s see what we can do to make this better.”
It seems that those types of classes are no longer being taught and you can’t just assume that people know how to give good customer service.
I learned about manners and serving as a child. Somewhere along the way, the US became a nation of egotists. In the US, customer service people are of a different generation. They have not been taught the value of putting the interests of others ahead of themselves. One of the positive sides of living in Honduras is the high value placed on manners and service. People are quick to welcome you into a store or business, and they are always available to assist you if they can. Of course, considering that our unemployment rate is sky high, people who have jobs in customer service are willing to do whatever is necessary to keep their jobs.
It really does all just boil down to manners.
So true that no one is as brilliant as I, nor can they do the job as good as I. 😉
Once I was on the phone with a customer and she kept cursing. Not AT me, but just cursing up and down a storm. So I kindly told her if she could not stop cursing I would have to hang up the phone. After that she was a nice as could be (without cursing).
After many years in customer service, I find that if you calmly call someone on their behaviour (i.e. “Please do not shout at me.”) they tend to listen and you can regroup from there.
— On Tue, 8/28/12, Disqus wrote:us.net> Subject: [unknownmami] Re: Customer Service How To: Top 10 Customer Service Tips To: unknownmami@gmail.com
Date: Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 11:54 AM
“…telling them about the bender…” wow you have had some interesting interactions. What guideline would you write if you were management? Most of the service reps interactions I have are over the phone or internet.
I was thinking about how much happens over the phone nowadays when I wrote this. I’d like to teach the automated phone response systems a thing or two.
During college I worked as a cashier in a family run nursery and I learned so much about customer service there. I agree with all of your tips and that it is becoming a lost art. In my opinion, companies don’t invest in staff anymore so staff don’t invest in their jobs so customers don’t invest in companies… no loyalty anymore.
I would add: Have fun! Sometimes, when we were hit with a big crowd is when we would become our silliest. It helped us relax and it helped the customers relax too. Nothing that would distract us from being efficient,- I liked to put odd objects on my head or tie boxes to the bottom of my shoes (but that’s just me). Being helped by someone who is laughing and smiling can go a long way when people are grumpy about waiting in line.
I agree. Fun is key. Sometimes even just acknowledging that it is crazy busy helps. I usually thank someone for waiting and that seems to disarm them.
great list, sugar! and i voted, too! xoxox
Love ya!
Very great tips! And yes it is so sad how little some employees seem to be trained now days– though a lot of that training, being kind, working hard should have been taught at home and isn’t always
Great list! I voted.
I like it! Great customer service is where one wants to go back even if a couple of items are marginally pricier. A smile and a may I help you attitude go such a long way to make a customer feel good. I have three supermarkets near where I live and regularly visit just one. The other two are closer, but they drive me nuts by being indifferent. I shop at 8.30 am usually and I am not crazy about screwing up my day because of someone’s indifferent attitude. Being nice pays big dividends.
I agree. There is a ridiculously expensive store by our home. I complain about the prices, but never the service. I can’t buy everything there, but when I need milk that’s where I go even though there are corner stores closer to me.
What kind of customer service is it that sticks a large sign in front of everyone’s face before they start “No shirt, no shoes, no service”. Very negative, and what has it got to do with you if a customer doesn’t wear shoes? It’s the norm in some parts of the world and a perfectly healthy thing to do.
I think Claudya is using that NS, NS, NS sign as an example of what NOT to do: It is clearly rude and inappropriate and would contradict her rule 10.
Would I would like is to know what to do about those places that respond to my complaint by saying DON’T TELL ME HOW TO RUN MY BUSINESS. I’ve heard it twice, and it was obviously the owner.
Unfortunately, all you can do is stop giving them your money.