{"id":11711,"date":"2013-04-10T08:39:04","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T15:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=11711"},"modified":"2013-04-10T08:39:04","modified_gmt":"2013-04-10T15:39:04","slug":"the-basics-of-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=11711","title":{"rendered":"The Basics of Customer Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"checklist3\"<\/a>Great customer service isn\u2019t rocket science.\u00a0 Customer service isn\u2019t a department.\u00a0 It is a simple philosophy that should be practiced by everyone in an organization, regardless of their position and\/or title, and it can be broken down into four basic parts.\u00a0 While volumes of books have been written about great service, these four points could be considered the starting point – the basics.\u00a0 By understanding these very simple concepts, you will be well on your way to creating more moments of magic for your customers.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0 \u00a0 Common sense – <\/b>This means doing the obvious.\u00a0 It is a little more than treating your customers like you would want to be treated.\u00a0 But, it is not much more.\u00a0 It is simply treating your customers the way they<\/i> want to be treated.\u00a0 Understand that what you would expect might be different than what your customer might expect.\u00a0 For example, a bellman may work at a very expensive hotel.\u00a0 He will probably never stay at a hotel like the one in which he works.\u00a0 He would never demand the same level of service and attention that the hotel\u2019s guest\u2019s demand, but he still understands what they want and desire, and he delivers it to them.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Flexibility<\/b> – Rules and policies are nothing more than guidelines.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let \u201ccompany policy\u201d stand in the way of making a customer happy.\u00a0 However there is eventually a point where you have to take a stand.\u00a0 In spite of what you may have heard, the customer is not always right.<\/i>\u00a0 But, they are always the customer.\u00a0 So, if they are wrong, let them be wrong with dignity.\u00a0 Do what you can, within reason, to see that your customer is always happy.\u00a0 I am reminded of the CEO of a major company that called all of his people together and told them, \u201cDo whatever it takes to make the customer happy.\u201d\u00a0 Well, they did, and almost put the company into bankruptcy.\u00a0\u00a0 Along with empowering people to be flexible goes training.\u00a0 If properly trained, the employee can deliver what the customer perceives as a \u201cwhat-ever-it-takes\u201d attitude, and the employees won\u2019t put the company out of business.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

3. \u00a0 \u00a0 Solving Problems<\/b> – There are two types of problems to solve – business and non-business. \u00a0Business problems include taking care of complaints and meeting a customer\u2019s needs.\u00a0 These customers are coming to you to either satisfy a complaint or have you help them with a problem, and you need to be there to help them.\u00a0 Then there are non-business problems that have nothing to do with what you and your company do on a day-to-day basis.\u00a0 An example of a non-business problem might be a person whose car has a flat tire across the street from our place of business.\u00a0 They come to us for help.\u00a0 How do we react?\u00a0 Do we tell them there is a pay phone down the street, or do we help them by picking up the phone and calling for a tow truck?\u00a0 Solving non-business problems are a potential way of generating good public relations.\u00a0 And, you never know, but this person could turn out to be your next customer.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0 \u00a0 Recovery<\/b> – This is probably one of the most important points.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care how good you are.\u00a0 You can have a long-term satisfied customer for years.\u00a0 As soon as something bad happens, you have to recover.\u00a0 It is that recovery that will be that customer\u2019s final judgment on just how good you really are.\u00a0 Remember, studies have proven it is much less expensive to keep an existing a customer than to get a new one.\u00a0 Do what you can not just to recover from a problem, but to give the customer a renewed confidence to continue to do business with you again.\u00a0 Sometimes this means going beyond just fixing a problem.\u00a0 Sometimes you have to get the customer back in the door.\u00a0 For example, a restaurant that had a problem with a guest\u2019s meal might not just remake the dinner, but also give a complimentary appetizer the next<\/i> time the guest comes back.\u00a0 Not only did the restaurant resolve the complaint, but also gave an incentive for the guest to come back.
\nSo there you have four basic components of a good customer service strategy.\u00a0\u00a0 These simple yet powerful tools are the key to success in customer service and will create many MOMENTS OF MAGIC!<\/p>\n

(Copyright \u00a9<\/em>MMXIII, Shep Hyken)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great customer service isn\u2019t rocket science.\u00a0 Customer service isn\u2019t a department.\u00a0 It is a simple philosophy that should be practiced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1542,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[1243,124,1242],"class_list":["post-11711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-miscellaneous","tag-customer-service-strategy","tag-customer-service","tag-satisfied-customer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11711"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11775,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711\/revisions\/11775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}