Customer Service Interview by Karon Thackston

Here you go... because most of my visitors and customers are on-line businesses, or at least have an on-line presence, I will focus on customer service for the web a lot.

1) I'm sure you're familiar with the 1996 US White House Office of Consumer Affairs study on customer service. In it, they told us that 96% of the business we lose is due to customers who perceive that we (business owners) are indifferent toward them. What are some ways we can combat this feeling of indifference?

Stop behaving indifferently. Focus on customer service in every faze of your business — creation, design, and execution.

Too many businesses view the customer as just another sale. Consequently, they treat customers like a "one night stand." Not exactly a warm fuzzy feeling for the customer.

In the Customer Service section on my Common Sense Managing book I recommend six basic steps:

1. Developing a customer driven vision to satisfy and exceed your customers’ needs and expectations
2. Identifying most valued customers’ needs and expectations. Another name for this is Market Research
3. Developing an operational plan that fulfills your vision
4. Hiring, developing, empowering, and rewarding the people who carry out the plan
5. Measuring whether your products and services are meeting and exceeding your customers’ needs and expectations. Follow up as needed. Then re-measure and follow up or modify as needed. Then re-measure and follow up or modify as needed. Then . . .
6. Repeating all of the above steps until you retire or expire

2) Something else that was mentioned in the survey is that the majority of unsatisfied customers will walk away without saying a word. That means we don't get an opportunity to correct a mistake. Can you recommend a way to encourage customers to let us know when they are unhappy so we can rectify the situation?

Refer to Customer Service step number five - - measure!

Contact your customers and ask. We’ve found customers very willing to tell us what they like and don’t like - - if we ask and listen. Then thank them and demonstrate that you’ve heard them by fixing what they told you was wrong and doing more of what they told you they liked.

Keep them informed of your responses. Value added service doesn’t have any value if your customers don’t know you’ve added it. While customers may have many attributes, none of them are mind readers.

3) What are the most common mistakes you see on-line businesses make in the area of customer service?

Misuse of technology is the biggest mistake that we observe.

Technology can only be used to enhance customer service, never to replace it. Auto responders are wonderfully quick and horrendously bad when they are used to send generic messages that are non-responsive to customers’ specific questions and concerns.
FAQ lists are potentially useful. However, they can become cumbersome for a customer to wade through and totally frustrating if the customer doesn’t fine the specific answer they are seeking.
Like it or not, you must provide a telephone number if you want to be easy to do business with and maintain rapport with your customers. Some people don’t want to list their number because they are concerned about obscene calls or security. Several ways around this include having a male record your message, using caller ID, and screening your calls. Just make sure you respond to legitimate calls in a timely manner.
Consider getting a cell telephone. They have become very inexpensive and enable your customers to reach you almost anytime and anywhere.
The bottom line is, you can’t offer personal service if you aren’t personal.

4) Can you offer some creative solutions to those problems?

Most often you don’t need "creative solutions", just common sense.
Treat your customers the way you’d like to be treated. Think about the businesses you like doing business with. Identify what it is that they do that pleases you. Make a list of these potential customer "do’s."
Now comes the critical part. Don’t just do these things. Use your list to design a customer survey to ask your customers what they want, expect, and need from you. Now you have a list of what your customers specifically desire from you. Now, "just do it". Repeat this exercise at least every six months.

5) Providing customer service on the Web can be much more difficult than providing person-to-person customer service. For small business owners on a budget, what means would you recommend to increase their level of service?

There is no replacement for person-to-person customer service!

There's something wrong with your budget if you can’t afford to provide person-to-person customer service. Go back and estimate the cost of gaining a customer and the cost of losing a customer. Then redo your budget.

6) I know that guarantees are one way for on-line businesses to show their interest in customer service. However, small businesses can't always "afford" to give a money-back guarantee. There is the risk that others will take undue advantage of the promise. Can you give us some guidelines for those who would like to offer a guarantee but are concerned?

I have a small business. I sell my book on my web site and guarantee it unconditionally for one year. Our no hassle policy is — your don’t like the book for any reason [or no reason] and we will refund your money. In almost two years we have not had one customer ask for a refund.

I must qualify this. Managers and business owners primarily purchase Common Sense Managing. Perhaps they behave differently than your customers.

My advice is to ask your customers how important it is in their purchasing decision that you offer a guarantee. While you’re at it, ask them what else you could be doing that would demonstrate your commitment to servicing them. I can’t pretend to tell anyone what their customers want. The only way I know to uncover this information is to ask the specific customers of that business.

7) As a long-time customer service consultant, I'm sure you've seen it all (or at least most of it)! Please give us some words of wisdom that will help us improve our overall customer service efforts.

In addition to applying the above six Customer Service steps, several other things immediately come to mind.

Don’t ask your customers a question unless you are committed to follow through and do something about their answers. This same concept applies to employees.

Treat employees the same as you would your best customers.

Under promise and over deliver. "You’ll have it by Tuesday" means this Tuesday, not some Tuesday. "You’ll have it by Tuesday" means you’ll have it, not we’ll ship it by Tuesday.

Buy a copy of Common Sense Managing today. The desk top guide shows you how to design, build, and maintain a customer driven organization. What have you got to lose — we guarantee its value to you and offer a no hassle one year 100% refund.

Thanks, Bill! Please also write up a short bio and include your url and email address. Please keep the bio to around 7-10 lines. It will appear at the end of the interview.

 

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