BEST 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TIPS IN THE BUSINESS

BEST 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TIPS IN THE BUSINESS
By
Bill Cottringer

“Good customer service is 90% listening and follow-up and 10% talking.” ~The author.

1. Leave your bad moods, frustrations and other agendas at home or at least put them aside and out of mind and heart when you are engaged with customers. At the very least be fully present with an open mind.

2. Know people’s correct names and pronunciations and use them when speaking with customers. Do some advance homework if you need to.

3. Communicate most effectively by (a) making steady but not unnerving eye contact (b) maintaining a genuine smile conveying the right amount of positivism, friendliness, approachability and likability (c) doing most of the listening, carefully and attentively (d) avoiding saying or implying anything that can create defensiveness like insinuating superiority, judgment, over-control, dishonesty, insensitivity, rudeness or manipulation (e) control negative body language that reveals you are not walking your own customer service talk (f) taking notes when appropriate (g) always starting and ending the conversation on a positive note, especially saying “thank you” at the end, and (h) making an even more focused effort with written communications and phone conversations, which are always harder to know what the actual impact your style is having on the person.

4. Make sure you have an accurate understanding of what it is the person is really saying, asking or wanting; do this by checking out and verifying what you think they are saying or asking by paraphrasing back and clarifying your perceptions and interpretations.

5. Only make promises you can deliver, write them down for the person to see, and follow-thru and follow-up on those promises within a reasonable amount of time; give an interim status update when there are unforeseen delays in getting information or taking action.

6. Make an extra special effort to deal with the most difficult customers in your ‘Sunday Best’—(a) good communication, especially listening and conveying understanding and controlling negative body language (b) extra kindness, patience and tolerance (c) writing down concerns you don’t have an answer to and follow-up your promise to get answers for the person (d) allowing a reasonable amount of emotional expression in private, and (e) making the person feel more comfortable and relaxed.

7. Try to do such a good job with customer service, consistently and persistently, with the ultimate goal of helping the customer to be so satisfied they tell others, including your boss.

8. Never ask for feedback about how well you re doing with your customer service, without full intention of applying the negative criticisms you receive; always follow up by showing the criticizer what you have done to use the feedback to make positive changes.

9. Always learn something positive from the inevitable failures, that will help you be more successful the next time, being armed with the right information.

10. Carefully avoid showing any signs of “artificial niceness” and “canned scripting” when interacting with customers. If necessary, talk yourself into all these other useful tips before your start interacting with customers in person, in writing or on the phone.

William Cottringer, Ph.D. is President of Puget Sound Security in Bellevue, WA and also a business and personal success coach, sport psychologist, photographer and writer living in the mountains of North Bend. He is author of several business and self-development books, including, You Can Have Your Cheese & Eat It Too, The Bow-Wow Secrets, Do What Matters Most, “P” Point Management, Reality Repair Rx, and Reality Repair coming shortly. He can be contacted with comments or questions at 425 454-5011 or bcottringer@pssp.net