Customer service: delight your customers

Customer Service Tips

by Mark Lamendola, MBA

See also: Customer service: Case History

1. Treat every problem as an opportunity. Go just a bit overboard to please any customer who complains.
2. Don't wait for customer complaints. Try purchasing your own products, and see what the experience is like.
3. For every customer who complains, 9 will be silent about the same problem. Try to track down who else had the problem, and follow up with them.
4. Don't make it your goal to please a customer; make it your goal to delight a customer.
5. Respond to every customer who contacts you--this alone goes a long way toward repairing damage.
6. Try to understand two things: what the problem is, and what the customer's perception of the problem is. Address both.
7. Never give a glib response to a customer complaint. Their comments are valuable feedback.
8. Some customers are not worth keeping--a customer who is chasing the lowest cost or who makes unreasonable demands limits your ability to service your other customers.
9. Never minimize a customer's problem--if the problem is serious enough for the customer to complain about, it's serious enough for you to resolve.
10. Don't shuffle a customer to someone else. People really hate this kind of treatment. If you must forward a customer to someone else, leave the customer your name and contact information so the customer can come back to you. Also, asks the customer for contact information so you can ensure the problem is resolved. Make a note to contact that customer within 24 hours. If you are forwarding the customer by phone, stay on the line with that customer until s/he reaches the right party.

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