Fix it before it breaks you

Maybe it’s just me, but several times this past week I’ve been frustrated by annoying lapses in service at businesses I frequent often. I was overcharged and promised a quick fix that never happened. I came to pick up an order and waited forever while the clerk helped someone else who’d come in after me. And in another case, my detailed explanation of how a split order should be handled seemed to mean nothing.
Many small-business owners go to great lengths coming up with grandiose customer-service ideas that they can tout in their marketing and advertising. These ideas are intended to attract new customers looking for something better. But often it’s the little things that get customers agitated and cause them to take their business elsewhere.
Customer relationships are often made or broken when something goes wrong. Getting customer-service perks is nice. But fixing problems is where the rubber hits the road. If you don’t have well-developed skills for recovering from a slipup, you’ll lose a lot of customers.
In an age of increasingly heavy social media usage, it takes only one disgruntled customer to create a disaster. The Internet has greatly amplified the customer’s voice. A negative story about your business doesn’t have to “go viral” or even reach very many people to inflict damage. The amplification effect of a single person passing it along can cause you to lose a lot more than one sale. So it pays to have a strong service-recovery plan in place.
• Learn to recognize and truly understand your customer’s situation. Think of your customers as unique individuals with different sets of needs. In other words, not all customers need the same type of service, and they don’t care about the same things. For example, someone with children will have different concerns from a busy businessperson.
• Deliver on what you tell the customer. I’m still waiting for my local health club to notify me they’d refunded an overcharge on my credit card – as they said they would do, twice, going back three days. Make sure everyone in your business understands that customer service is much more than reciting a tired phrase such as “someone will be right with you.” • Treat any second complaint like a dire emergency. Most people are fairly forgiving after one mistake – assuming you address it promptly. But when you get a second complaint from the same person or business, it’s time to go into emergency mode. •


Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@bizbest.com.

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