What is Good Customer Service, Exactly?
Customer Service.
We’ve all heard it, we all want it, but what does it really mean? I’ve spent a bit of time recently processing this question. I guess it boils down to the end product. When it is all said and done, and words stop flying, it should be the last impression the customer has of the company before he goes off to use whatever product or service he purchased.
So how do you get there? That is a bit harder to answer.
Let me tell you a story based on events that have unfolded more than once around here. At Batterystuff.com, we take customer service seriously. We always make every effort to ship orders out the same day that we receive them, and ship them to arrive as quickly as is reasonably possible. Recently, we shipped two batteries out to two different customers, both in Florida. Both orders were placed on a Friday, both batteries were shipped using the same carrier, and both arrived the following Tuesday.
For the first customer, let’s call him John, that quick shipping time was very impressive. He ordered on Friday, and the package only took 2 business days to arrive. He sent us an email stating that he was totally impressed with our service. The second customer, Frank, also received his battery on Tuesday, but was completely dissatisfied that the package took 5 days to arrive. He also sent us an email stating that we had poor service, and that he would never buy from us again.
Here was a situation where John and Frank received the same exact service. John went away happy while Frank did not.
How does one handle it?
One approach is to gently walk Frank away from the cliff, while the other approach wants to give him the old heave-ho over it. THIS is where good customer service comes in. Even though both received the same treatment John is pleased and Frank is trying to push buttons. It is plainly obvious that good customer service starts with the actual service being, well-good, but it also carries over to how you treat customers that are determined to never be satisfied. We at Batterystuff.com resist the urge to return rudeness in kind, and re-iterate in the gentlest way we know how, that we really are trying our best, we really are listening, and we really will make adjustments wherever we can to improve the customer experience.
That is our commitment to customer service.
