Customer Service Communications – The Rules of Response
It’s actually really easy and can be summed up in two words: Be Responsive.
- Focus – Your current customer interaction is the only one that matters. Don’t multitask. Give your customer your undivided attention; it shows that you consider him/her important.
- Answer the phone, now! – Unless you’re already in a live customer interaction, do NOT let that call go to voicemail. Your customer doesn’t care about your chat with a colleague nor does he/she care that you’re concentrating on an email; learn to switch gears.
- Call back, now! – If you had to let a call go to voicemail, listen to it and call back immediately. Do not give your customer time to think that they’ve made a mistake in calling you.
- Email – Customers expect email to be instantaneous. It’s like voicemail with more details. Make sure that you know what’s in your Inbox and that you respond promptly, even if it’s just to say that you’ve received it and will get back with a detailed answer shortly. Read this article for “Six Tips For Writing Emails That People Will Read”.
- Follow up – Your customer should NEVER have to contact you a second time on the same subject. Don’t let the customer wonder what happened to you. If you’ll be away, advise them of when you’ll be back and who will take care of them in your absence.
Once you’ve applied these, you can engage the customer. Kate Nasser has an excellent article here: ACE Your Next Customer Service Moment. ACE means making your customer interactions Authentic, Committed and Easy.
Now I hope you answered that ringing phone and didn’t wait to finish reading…
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