Customer Service

So what does it mean to be a good customer service rep?

I have found that over my time of working for HD Fowler that a customer service is someone that takes ownership in what they are doing. Ownership to ensure that the customer is taken care of no matter what the measures that are needed to be taken.

I have had some instances where I have shipped the wrong thing or the warehouse guy pulled the wrong thing. I don’t let it sit and fester, or blow it off. I make sure that the customer is well taken care of and that I follow up on getting the customer what is suppose to be right. I have even made phone calls to customers that were going to be irate with me! Knowing full well that I am about to get my ass chewed, I still make the call. I want the customer to know that I understand that he is upset and I will do everything in my power to see that it gets fixed. After it is fixed I call ensure the problem has not been rectified (because it won’t be), but to ask if there is anything else I can do.

The problem will not go away for awhile and I know that. It takes a long time for that bad taste to get out of their mouth. All I can do is give them superior service and offer them a reason to continue to shop with us.

When you mess up with someones livelihood, it can cause a strain in the relationship of you and the customer, but it is how you handle the situation.

You need to own it and make it yours.

Here is an excerpt from a blog that I just searched regarding customer service in Recession times.

Organizations looking to make the most of what customer service can offer in a poor economy must first lay a foundation before bolting on additional software, according to the report. Petouhoff recommends a five-step process, in which software evaluation is the final leg:

1. Reject the old paradigms that treat a contact center as nothing more than a cost center.
2. Demand ownership of the customer experience.
3. Listen to your customers as you create your strategy.
4. Conduct a gap analysis of your customer service offering and then implement best practices to address those gaps.
5. Evaluate software with customer experience as the top goal for a business case

~ by jerryeverist on March 9, 2009.