Customer Service IS Marketing

Back in September I wrote a post on the level of customer service that I had to endure during an encounter with our fine U.S. Postal Service. Customer service is something that I am always looking for, good or bad. I want to make sure that the good is rewarded and I take lessons from the bad.

What is good customer service though? Is it outsourcing your technical help line to an Indian company where they can barely speak English? Does great customer service mandate that you have a very long and complicated auto attendant on your phone system? I think not.

I can't tell you how many times I have been on hold for over a half hour with my home ISP and the on hold message is saying, and I'm not kidding here - "If you are experiencing problems with your internet please go to www..." By the time you actually get to speak to a live person, you are much more irritated than when you first dialed the support line number. To make matters worse, the poor, unfortunate soul that gets the daunting privilege of assisting you, ends up with both barrels.

In my continuing quest to educate myself and try as I might to improve my own customer service skills, I ran across a BRILLIANT article on the very subject over at the aptly named Daily Brilliance.

Allow me to hit the high points for you.

• Tell your customers when there is a problem: Don't wait for them to call you and wonder what is going on. It's all about being proactive.
• Don't have automated phone systems if you can help it.
• Don't lie to your customers. This goes back to sales 101. Tell them the truth, if you don't know, say; "I don't know but I will find out for you." This will eliminate the "over promise and under deliver" problem that commonly plagues sales people.
  
• If you are going to sell something new, make sure your employees know about it and are at least slightly trained on the subject. I can't tell you how many times I have gone into a store and I know more about the item in question than the sales person. If you don't know about the product go find someone who does. NEVER FORGET, consumers are WAY MORE educated these days by the time they walk into your store. People do use the internet for something other than email and funny videos.
• This is MY FAVORITE! "Do Not Allow People That Do Not Speak English Out With The Customers." If you are going to sell me something, especially here in the Midwest, make sure you can sell it to me in English. I don't care if it is a Whopper with cheese or a 52 inch plasma, you need to be able to speak the official language of my country in order to sell it to me.
• Make sure you wait on customers. If I walk into a store and I have waited 15 minutes for help while the employees are all huddled together discussing the rave that they attended last night, I am walking out. Greet your customer, thank them for the business and say good bye as they leave.
  
• If you outsource, does your customer service suffer? You had better make sure it doesn't. The author states that he encourages people to purchase PC from somewhere other than Dell "...due to the quality of customer support I’ve received through their call center in India. I have nothing against Indian people but I do have a problem dealing with customer support when I cannot understand them."
• Treat each customer on their own merit. Don't punish all customers for the actions of the few. Instead of assuming that all customers are stealing from you, look at each customer as your neighbor or friend and talk to him or her in such a way that is both welcoming and trusting.

Here are a few other obvious sentiments from the article. "The best customer is the return customer, Every Business Should Have Clean Restrooms and what one would assume is obvious, remain open during the hours on your sign." This is a very brief summary of the entire article. Make sure you head over and check out the article in it's entirety. Bottom line, treat your customers the best you can. After all, they are the reason you are in business.

If you are still with me, (I know this is a long post) I do have one final illustration and then I want to hear from you. The other night I was at Red Lobster for some mediocre seafood enjoyment. Normally, they have outstanding customer service but for some reason our server was either having a bad night or really didn't care. We were seated right away but shortly afterwards our server brought us the wrong drinks. I informed her of the mistake and she took it away never to return with a replacement.

She served us appetizers, salads and the main course, the whole time forgetting to bring me anything to drink. But here's where you say, "didn't you reminder her?" Yes, of course I did. As a matter of fact, I reminded her 2 additional times that I didn't have anything to drink. In the end, I ate my entire meal with nothing to drink. I had to grab my wifes water a couple of times to wash down the cheesy garlic and herb biscuits, you know the ones I am talking about! Mmmmmmmm. Anyway, here's the question. Do you tip or not?

Tipping is a big debate with some of my friends. Maybe this is the bigger question that I need answered. Is tipping based on the level of service you receive or is it just part of the cost of going out. Do you think that people should get tipped even if they provide horrible service? I have been on both the tipper and the "tippee" and my thoughts are much different than some of my friends. Let me know what you think.