While Great Attitude in Customer Relations is a Goal, You MUST Still Deliver on Service

Review all notes and comments in your call tracking system, so you are better prepared to answer questions and move to a resolution quicker.

As service agents, you are expected to have a great attitude when dealing with customers. You smile. You address customers by name. You’re friendly. You’re polite. And you’re empathetic and sincere. But is that enough to win over customers if you can’t deliver in solving their problems? The following story was told to me by a fellow colleague.

Real world story: Can you live without email for at least an hour? Try not being able to access email for more than three weeks! Yes, I have tried running my business with limited email capability for three weeks! Long story short, Godaddy (my email provider) and HughesNet (my internet service provider) have an interconnected service issue that is preventing me from accessing webmail, from where I am able to attach documents like quotes and invoices, and download project files from clients. Although service agents at Godaddy and HughesNet have been extremely nice and patient, I still have the issue as pending with no resolution in sight. I have no clue when I will hear from someone or whether or not my issue will ever be resolved. So have I received great customer service or not? I’m torn in answering this question. Agents at both companies have been great to deal with—nice, warm, and friendly—but this technical glitch is holding me hostage!

Strategies that Turn it Around:

1. Follow Through: Not all customer interactions will require follow through. But knowing when to follow through is essential to great service. Depending on the tools available to you, you should be able to create a system that allows you to track progress on pending issues that you have not been able to resolve and have referred to someone else in your organization for resolution. The process shouldn’t be time-consuming, but it should allow you to track and follow-through when it is necessary.
2. Be Proactive: If you have a customer who is calling back on an unresolved issue, take the initiative to be proactive. Review all notes and comments in your call tracking system, so you are better prepared to answer questions and move to a resolution quicker. This also alleviates the problem of having customers once again repeat their story. You should already know why a customer with an unresolved issue is calling back again.
3. Take Ownership: When you know that a problem has been ongoing for some time, take ownership of the problem. Get a customer’s contact information, so you can call them back. Then investigate, notate, and coordinate with other departments to find a solution. Then call the customer back when you have an answer or to simply to give an update. Taking ownership lets customers know that at least one person cares about them and their problems.

Remember: Most of us think of great customer service as a function of personal treatment of others: smiling, calling customers by name, being nice and friendly, and being empathetic and sincere. But what good are all of these skills if you can’t solve a customer’s problem?

What do YOU do to ensure that above and beyond nice and friendly treatment of customers, you are actually solving their problems?