A customer's worst nightmare when asking for
customer service is that the request for assistance will be met with no
response. Just notice the upset in these customer statements:
"I called on Tuesday with a request for information. It's now Friday,
and I haven't heard a thing. Is your company closed?"
"But you told me you could have that done for me. I don't care if Bill
was scheduled out on vacation during that time, and he's the only one who
knows the details."
"But I already sent you that information. Why do I need to send it out
again? Did you lose it?"
What do all these customers have in common? A lack of responsiveness from the
people they've asked for help -- customer service reps. The number one complaint
of customers is a lack of information from vendors.
More than anything else, customers want service reps to be responsive.
Responsiveness is the process of taking action quickly to meet the specific
needs of customers. It means keeping customers informed about ongoing activity
to meet their requests and giving them a sense that fulfilling their requests is
important. It often doesn't even matter whether or not their request is granted
completely. Customers can be quite tolerant as long as:
- They believe the customer service reps are doing the best they can to
help.
- They have information about the status of their request.
Stages Of Responsiveness
OK, so you agree it's important to be responsive to your customers. How are
you going to do it? There are five actions you must take to ensure that you are
being responsive. They are:
- Understand exactly what each customer needs from you right now.
- Acknowledge the customer's need.
- Think like a consultant.
- Take action.
- Communicate regularly with the customer.
1. Understand exactly what each customer needs from you right now
Before you can be responsive, you have to understand exactly what you are
being responsive to. Some customers have needs that are simple and
straightforward:
"Can you send me an upgrade to my software?"
Other customers have needs that are more complex; some aren't capable of
giving you all the information you need to be responsive to their needs because
they don't understand the complexity of their own request:
"What's the best way to get to Italy?"
On the surface, this request appears simple, but before you can suggest
travel arrangements, you probably need to know what this customer means by the
word "best."
When simple requests are anything but, it's your job to figure out exactly
what the customer requires before you take any action. This may mean that you
have to ask the customer questions to uncover some of the missing details, or
that you have to describe in detail all of the factors that impact that request.
2. Acknowledge the customer's needs
Once you understand all of what a customer needs, you need to verify your
understanding before you continue to work on a solution. That way, you assure
customers you have heard exactly what they were asking for. By acknowledging
each customer's needs, you also are giving each one of those individuals a
chance to fill in any missing information, which may, in the end, impact your
ability to help.
3. Think like a consultant
Now, it's time to build a plan of action. What are all the steps you have to
go through to respond to the request? You'll be more effective in helping
customers if you think like a consultant. What is a consultant? This is a person
who has developed an area of expertise and can apply that expertise to solving
problems. There are several characteristics of good consultants:
- They think flexibly. There might be several different solutions to a
request, or several different ways to respond. Consultants think of all the
possible options and pick the one that will work best for the situation.
Note that being flexible doesn't necessarily mean giving customers exactly
what they ask for; rather, it is picking the most appropriate option.
- They think long term as well as short term. Sometimes, it's possible to
fix a problem today that might lead to a bigger one at a later time. A
simple example would be making a repair to a house. Let's say, a spot
appears on the kitchen wall. The easy way would be to cover the spot with
paint or wallpaper. After all, the spot would be gone. But that ignores that
something caused the spot to be there in the first place. Better to remove
the cause of the spot first, and then cover it over. Consultants avoid quick
solutions that can later cause problems.
- They bring in other resources as needed. Consultants also understand the
extent of their expertise. They turn to others when they've exceeded their
own limits.
4. Take action
Once you've selected a course of action to respond to the request, you're
ready to take action. Responsiveness through this stage calls for being thorough
in completing each step and also in being honest with the customer. Tell
customers how long it will really take to resolve the question; tell them if you
cannot do everything that they are requesting. You have to set customer
expectations that are realistic, or you will appear to be less than responsive.
5. Communicate regularly with the customer
If it's going to take time to respond to the request, or if you have to
bring in others with special expertise, it's your job to make sure that you
communicate progress to the customer. Customers appreciate status reports, even
if there is nothing to report. That, by itself, is information. Make it a point
to communicate with the customer frequently until the question is resolved.
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