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Customer Service Article
Five
Secrets to Showing Your Customers You Really Care
By Ed Sykes
During our recent online poll,
we asked the following question:
What upsets you the most
when receiving poor customer service?
Eighty percent of the poll
participants said the “I don’t care attitude” of the person serving them upsets
them the most.
Businesses lose billions of
dollars of revenue each year because customers feel the organizations don’t care
about their business enough to make an effort to keep them. It takes five
times more effort to win over a new customer than to keep an existing customer.
Then why does this happen?
No training or poor training has a lot to do with it.
Here are five secrets to
showing your customers you really do care about their situations when
interacting with them:
1.
Listen!
Take the time to listen to the
“pain” the customer is trying to share with you. There is a reason why we
have two ears and one mouth. Listen for the content and not the method of
communication the customer is using. Use active listen skills such as
§
Nodding
your head
§
Leaning
forward to show interest
§
Saying “I
hear what you saying,” “I see what you mean,” or “tell me more”
§
Stop doing
something else and devoted all your attention to listening.
§
Look at
the customer
§
Be
patience and not interrupt the customer before adding your thoughts
You might be the first person
that day that took time to listen to that person. Make the most of it.
2. Respond
Respond to the customer in the
following ways:
§
Use
inflection in your voice (avoid sounding monotone)
§
Don’t use
“whatever,” “yeah, right,” “if you say so”
3. Check
your body language
Make sure your body language is
saying to the customer, “I want to help you.” Make sure you are doing the
following:
§
Smile
§
Stand
erect
§
Hands at
your side, but never on your hips
§
Avoid
leaning against the counter or slouching in the chair (especially while speaking
on the telephone as the customer can hear your disinterest)
§
Look and
act alive
4. Show
Empathy (Understand the Pain)
Show the customers that you
understand their “pain.” Make comments such as
“I can understand why you would
feel that way.”
“If I were in your shoes I
would feel the same way”
“I would be disappointed, too,
if that happened to me.”
Most customers just want to be
listened to and understood. Show them that you understand their “pain” and
solution come much earlier.
5. Commit
to Action
Let the customer know that
action will be taken; and then act. One without the other is just a broken
promise. Share with the customer your clear plan of action such as the
following:
“I am personally going to take
care of this for you. What we are going to do is…”
“I need to get additional
information before I take care of this for you. I am going to talk with my
manager. Would you mind waiting?”
These are just some of the
tools you can use to keep your customers happy and increase revenues.
Apply them today to show that you care about your customers.
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