What To Avoid In Customer Service
4 min read
A foundational sign of a good company is how well its customer service operates. Big brands like Walmart or Macy’s rely heavily on their customer service agents to reach out, deal with and get back to customers. There’s no rocket science involved in this. Just that you should be passionate about your work and be willing to bring out the best in not just yourself but also your customer.
Customer interactions can often get quite daunting. But don’t worry, we’re here for you. Read on through to find out what mistakes to avoid that’ll eventually bog you down. Nobody likes a customer representative that’s not on top of their game. We won’t let that happen to you. Nothing less than 100% effort and 100% customer satisfaction is the goal.
Making the Clients Wait Too Long
This one is a novel mistake many agents end up making just because of the workload. We get it, agents are required to sit through most of the day and answer/reply to loads of calls and emails. The entire process can get tiring. We’re humans and it’s only natural that we start getting bored. But if you’ve taken the responsibility to represent such a reputable company then you should make it a point to be ever-present.
Customers mostly prefer to call. For example, someone could have a complaint or query to lodge and might reach out to an AT&T customer service phone number. The agent sitting on the other side could have taken loads of calls throughout the day and for this particular call, they could lose touch. That one slip might end up costing them their job.
Don’t do this. Take breaks and make sure to log out properly if you feel too drowsy or not in the mood. Your boss might not be too forgiving.
Not Being Proactive With Clients
More often than not, customers stay mum about their situation with their situation. They would let it simmer and then suddenly burst once the time to act is up. This puts the entire blame on their service agent. And if that’s you then get ready for a world of trouble. The best thing to do is to not let the scene get to that point. Make sure to actively follow up with your clients so they know you’re ready to act when they are. Clients lead a busy life and getting back to a customer service agent is often not on the top of their priority list. Make a mental note or use sticky notes to help keep track of your activity with them.
Not Listening to Your Customers’ Issues
Listening is a skill not everyone has equipped under his or her belt. In customer service though, this is a necessity. When you listen, you understand and when you understand, you better realize how to go forth with your dealings. It’s extremely agitating for a customer to be given a generic solution. Something that might not even relate to their query. This will eventually result in that person thinking twice before reaching out to customer support. Cultivate the habit of listening to people and then providing solutions or mediums that are specially tailored to their needs.
Not Being Quick
Sometimes a customer isn’t looking for much. Maybe all they need is a simple response. Perhaps a website address or a package’s details. This work can usually be done with just a swipe, click, or copy-paste. Putting it off for 24 hours or more is a bad call. Customers lean more towards giving positive reviews when their work is done in a timely fashion. Always stay on top of providing results instantaneously. It’ll help you in the long run as well.
Not Staying Truthful
A sure-shot method of losing support and ratings is by lying through your teeth. If you’re in a brand where you’re often promoting its products, be wary about providing information. Sure, you may lure a customer into purchasing your product but if you captivated them with sweet talk and added in a bunch of faulty statements, you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll be coming after your throat in a week’s time.
It’s always better to provide truthful statements even if they may sting. Let your customer know about that delay. Then, let them know how you’re trying your best to get a follow-up and, additionally, escalate their situation to the higher-ups so that their issue is resolved as soon as possible. Having a truthful but positive tone with people is the way to make sure work gets done in a favorable manner. Nobody is perfect but you don’t have to lie just to get it off your chest.
Conclusion
That’s a wrap on our guidance as far as customer service is related. Everyone commits mistakes occasionally. Cutting down on their occurrence is something we should all work on. Regardless, we hope your customer service journey is a smoother one after reading through our guide.
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