Tuesday, August 10, 2010 What moving taught me about good (and bad) customer service
How much luck does one really need when moving?
I recently joined Bader Rutter’s public relations team, which meant moving from Denver to Milwaukee. I was so excited to start my next adventure in life, but was surprised with how many “good luck with the move” comments I received as I shared my great news. How hard could it be?
I packed my boxes, arranged my move with a moving company, loaded my car, waved goodbye to friends (and virtually all of my belongings) and headed east. Milwaukee awaited me.
It was a good plan, until it didn’t go as anticipated.
More than a month later, after countless phone calls, many excuses and very few answers from the moving company, my boxes, furniture and wardrobe finally joined me. Apparently, I needed better luck.
Needless to say, I was disappointed with the situation, but I was more surprised by the way it was handled. Working in a service industry myself, I certainly understand situations arise, plans sometimes need to change and the ability to be flexible is mandatory. However, in my opinion, delivering excellent customer service should go without saying in any business.
Often times, through experiences we honestly prefer not to have, we see things from a different angle. My forever-long move served as a great reminder of what exceptional customer service should be.
This is my top five list of customer service musts. I’m interested to know, what else would you add?
1. Answer the phone – with a smile. If you can’t answer it, return phone calls as soon as possible.
2. Establish realistic deadlines and meet them. Over promising and under delivering only hurts you in the long run.
3. Be upfront when situations arise. Inevitably something will come up. Be honest about it and do your best to resolve the situation as smoothly, quickly and accurately as possible.
4. Make the extra effort, If staying late an additional 10 minutes will get the job done, stay.
5. Make the customer feel appreciated. They are always right, after all. It’s our job to make that happen.
While some of these examples may seem obvious, the importance of customer service can never be underestimated.
Not having my belongings was annoying, but certainly not the end of the world. Now that my furniture is arranged and my boxes are unpacked, I’ve reflected on the situation. It reminded me to be patient, helped enhance my creativity with my limited wardrobe, and served as a good reminder of what to do and not to do for clients.
I’m OK with that. I’m just not going to move across the country again for a long time.
Reader Comments (2)
It's shocking that so many businesses that are service-oriented today seem to "miss" the key tenets of customer service. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, in my mind, so that means taking the extra time to appropriately train all associates, especially those that are customer-facing, with Claire's customer-service musts would seem obvious.
The good news, for the consumer, at least, is that good customer service is easy to spot these days, and reward with more business.
Yeah! I've heard a lot of that before. Thanks for some reminders here.
Keep it up!
Helena