Daniels Air

Customer  Service NO- NO'S

Customer Service is one of the foundational pillars of any business. If you don't provide an exceptional level of it, your customers will go somewhere else to get it. Trying to define what exactly is "Exceptional Customer Service" is nearly impossible, as it can be a very personal definition for each person. There are some guidelines of "does and don't's" that are universal. Over the next couple of months we will go through them and share ideas.
 
This month we will focus on the things not to do from a customer perspective. If you see or hear others in your company doing any of these, our Customer Service training system, Opportunity Smarts (www.OpportunitySmarts.com) would be a great way to improve your company's delivery of Exceptional Customer Service.

1.  Your Employees are having a bad day, and their foul mood carries over in conversations with customers. (Everyone has bad days, but customer service employees need to keep theirs to themselves.)
 
2.  Your company doesn't return phone calls or voice-mail messages, despite listing your number on your website and/or in ads and directories. (Call customers back as soon as you can, or have calls returned on your behalf.)
 
3.  Your Employees put callers on hold with out asking them first, as a courtesy, (Ask customers politely if you can put them on hold; very few will complain or say " No Way!")
 
4.  Your Employees put callers on a Speakerphone without asking them first if it is OK (Again: Ask first, as a courtesy.)
 
5.  Your Employees eat, drink or chew gum while talking with customers on the phone. (A telephone mouthpiece is like a microphone; noise can easily be picked up. Employees need to eat their meals away from the phone. And save that stick of gum for break time.
 
6.  You have call waiting on your business lines, and your employees frequently interrupt existing calls to take new calls. ( One interruption in a call may be excusable; beyond that, you are crossing the "rude" threshold. Do your best to be prepared with enough staff for peak calling times.)
 
7.  Your employee refuses or forget to use the words "please", "thank you" or "you're welcome." (Please use these words generously. Thank you)
 
8.  Your employees hold side conversations with friends or others while talking to customers on the phone, or they make personal calls on cell phones in your call center. (Don't do either of these).
 
9.  Your Employees seem incapable of offering more than one-word answers. (One-word answers come across as rude and uncaring.)
 
10.  Your Employees request that customers call them back when the employees aren't so busy. (Customers should never be told to call back. Request the customers number instead.)
 
11.  Your Employees rush through calls, forcing customers off the phone at the earliest opportunity, (Be a little more discreet Politely suggest that you've got the information you need and you must move on to other calls.)
12.  Your Employee obnoxiously bellow, "What's this in reference to?" effectively humbling customers and belittling their requests. (Screening techniques can be used with a little more warmth and finesse, if a caller has mistakenly come your way, do your best to point them in the right direction.)
 
13.  Your Employee freely admit to customer that they hate their jobs. (This simply makes the entire company look bad. And don't think such a moment of candor or lapse in judgement wont get back to the boss.)