Donna
Siegel

Ending The Customer Service Conversation

The first two steps in a customer service conversation are the greeting and addressing the customer's concern. In these steps, the customer service rep establishes rapport and gets the customer to relax. Equally important to the customer's feeling of well-being is the rep's skills at Ending The Customer Service Conversation.

"That was a very nice person helping me. I know I wasn't very coherent, what with the accident and all. But the woman at the insurance office certainly was patient. The trouble is, I didn't write down what she said, and I'm not sure if I'm required to call the doctor's office first or if she's going to take care of it herself."

At the same time, if we think about the customer service rep's side of the conversation, the rep might think something like this:

"That customer certainly was confused. I'm glad I straightened her out and gave her the information she needed to get her claim processed."

The Importance Of An Effective Ending

Most customer service reps, like the one above, might have done a terrific job of helping the customer, only to later find that the job wasn't finished. Most often, they end the conversation much as they would if it were a personal conversation with a brief comment such as:

"Thanks for calling."

"Thanks for coming in today."

Customer service reps who use these abbreviated conversation enders run the risk of undoing all of their good work in helping these customers. Without an effective ending, customers might:

• Be confused about what will happen next (like the customer at the top of this article).
• Be missing an important detail that just didn't come up in the conversation.
• May hesitate to take further action.
• May not feel that your company has any interest in them or their business.
• May waste time contacting another service rep and going through the same conversation again.

The end of a customer service conversation is just as important as its beginning. The ending creates the customer's last impression of the rep and the company -- and last impressions tend to persist. If the last impression is strong and positive, customers will be more willing to continue their relationship with your company. If the last impression is negative or even neutral, the customer might begin to look to your competition.

Components Of An Effective Ending

Assume you have answered all the customer’s questions and resolved the issue for which the customer needed service. Now, how do you make sure you end with an effective finish? There are four steps to the close of the service conversation:

• Review the important points.
• Gain agreement.
• Identify the next steps.
• Thank and invite.

Step 1: Review the important points
Unless the conversation was 30 seconds or less, you've spent some time working with this customer. During the interaction, the customer has probably asked you several questions, or you've had to check resources or procedures in order to help the customer. Before you can end the conversation, it's important to review the major points that were covered.

This review covers:

• The customer's reason for contacting you.
• Actions you have taken or performed during the conversation.

A typical review might go like this:

"Mrs. Pietro, let me sum up where we are on your question about the warranty repair on your car. I checked with our parts department to find out if we have everything to fix your car. I discovered the repair needs 4 different components, I called the warehouse on the fourth part, and they said they could have the part to our facility on Tuesday next week. So we can schedule the service on Wednesday or later."

This reiteration of major points of your interaction with the customer serves two purposes. First, it makes sure that important details are not overlooked by giving both you and the customer a chance to think about each part of the conversation again. Also, it demonstrates that you and your company value the customer and are interested it providing good service. If Mrs. Pietro had any hesitation that your shop was the best place to service her car, your review reduces the likelihood of her looking elsewhere.

Step 2: Gain agreement
The next step after reviewing the major points of your conversation is to gain agreement from customers. You want them to acknowledge that you have answered all their questions and that they understand what you have done during this conversation.

Most times, when you ask customers, they indicate their agreement. However, sometimes you find out there is a problem. There is still a remaining issue or question that hasn’t been resolved. This is good news, since it gives you an opportunity to complete the interaction right now.

Step 3: Identify the next steps
In some situations, the service required by the customers can be completed in this single conversation. If so, then you can skip this step. In the majority of situations, however, there are follow-on steps that either someone within your company must take or the customers must do for themselves. Before ending the conversation, you need to go over any next steps.

If the customer has more to accomplish, you should outline each step in order:

"Before we can fix your video recorder, we need to you to do one more thing. Please fax or mail a copy of your bill of sale to us so we can verify both the serial number and your date of purchase."

If you or anyone in your company must take the next steps, be sure to go over those with the customer, so  the customer knows what to expect. Include in this information:

• The person or department who will be responsible for the next actions.
• The actions that will be taken.
• An expected timeframe for the actions.

Try to paint a complete picture, so customers have an accurate image of the next steps and can set reasonable expectations.

Step 4: Thank and invite
The last step of completing service conversations is to thank and invite. This step is very important in solidifying long-term relationships with customers and encouraging them to remain active customers for our company. In this step, you:

• Thank them for calling your company. You want them to know you appreciate them and their business.
• Invite them to call on you again for assistance.

The thank and invite step is most effective when customer service reps make it sound sincere. It's even more effective when personalized to the customer. For example:

"Thank you, Mr. Greenwald, for calling us. If you ever have problems with your refrigerator again, please call us at this same number. We'll make sure we get someone right out there to help you."

Great customer service call endings ensure that the customer's needs are fully met and that the customer knows what to do next, and they leave a wonderful final impression of you and your company.

SeaBird Associates Inc
3011 NE 7th Drive
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-750-9233
E-mail: Donna Siegel

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