Six Keys to Creating "Wow" Customer
Service Experiences
Here are some of the key ingredients for putting the "wow" back into your customer's experiences..
In most businesses, once a customer begins dealing
with the customer service department, he or she is already in a negative
mindset. The best customer service representatives aren’t those that simply
neutralize the problem. Outstanding customer service representatives take a
negative and turn it into a positive that ensures the customer is not only
happy, but is convinced he or she has had an outstanding experience –
the "Wow" Factor – that he would not have got with any other company.
The key ingredients of the "Wow" experience are:
· Seamless Service
· Trustworthy Service
· Attentiveness
· Resourcefulness
· Courtesy
· Pro-active Service
Seamless Service means providing everything the customer needs, not
just what is required to meet the minimum standards. It’s about making sure
that they don’t have to wait and wonder. Customers will appreciate a smooth,
seamless process for addressing their needs. If there are several
steps needed to take care of their concerns, keep them in the loop – update
them by email or with a quick phone call so that they know you are working
on the situation and progress is being made. By keeping them abreast of what
is going on, you are letting them know you haven’t forgotten about
them and that you understand their concerns – reassurance and communication
are powerful customer service tools. Trustworthy Service is essential to
retaining customers. Promising a customer anything and delivering nothing is
the surest way to not only lose a customer, but get the kind of “word of
mouth” bad press that can ruin you. Under promise and over deliver –
If you promise a satisfactory solution and then go the extra mile to not
only satisfy the customer, but gain their appreciation and “Wow” them,
you will get word of mouth that will bring new customers to you.
Attentive Service means paying attention during and after the initial
contact. How many times have you contacted customer service and been
subjected to an obviously scripted response from the customer service
representative? Does it give you the feeling they aren’t really listening,
but just trying to get to the end of their canned presentation?
Attentiveness should run through every customer service experience, from
listening carefully to the customer’s concerns to following up after the
exchange
is over to make sure their needs have been met. Listening isn’t just about
hearing – it is about understanding what is really being said. The words are
just the beginning –what about the customer’s tone of voice? Her mood? Is
she disappointed, angry or frustrated? Keying in to the customer’s mood and
responding appropriately is essential, and it means not following a script.
Resourcefulness means finding solutions when there appear to be none. Many
companies have iron-clad policies that must be followed whenever a problem
arises; however, sometimes a customer won’t be satisfied by the “company
line” approach. Resourceful customer service representatives know that there
is always a way to move beyond the standard procedures in order to make a
customer happy. Resourcefulness involves finding a solution when a solution
isn’t apparent. This may mean moving up the chain of command before the
customer demands to talk to your superior. Companies with excellent customer
service also give their representatives some leeway so that they can
come up with creative solutions on their own. When a customer senses that
you are going beyond the norm to help them, they will feel valued and
respected.
Courtesy is a commodity that is becoming rarer every day. It takes so
little
to be polite but it is becoming a lost art. Say please when you ask a
customer a question, thank them for their information and take your time
talking to them. Nothing makes a customer feel more devalued than being
treated like a number. Use the person’s name, make requests rather than
demands and know when to apologize. When something goes wrong for a
customer, they want to hear that you understand their frustration and that
you are genuinely sorry that they are being inconvenienced. It takes nothing
to say, “I’m so sorry you aren’t satisfied and I hope we can do something to
correct this.”
Pro-Active Service means not waiting for the customer to come up with
a solution that you simply follow through on. A pro-active customer service
representative anticipates the needs of the customer and follows through.
Don’t wait for the customer to ask you what you are willing to do –
anticipate the question and answer it before they can ask. If they call and
say they aren’t satisfied, apologize and immediately suggest some
solutions. Customers want you to take the lead – acknowledge their
unhappiness, offer a solution or solutions and explain to them how you are
going to follow through. Pro-Active service means taking the lead, which
will reassure your customers that you know what you are doing and that
you will follow through.
If you keep these six keys in mind – seamless service, trustworthiness,
attentiveness, resourcefulness ,courtesy and pro-active service – you
will be able to offer every customer the "Wow" Customer Service Experience
that inspires loyalty and keeps customers coming back for more.
About the Author