As a consumer, there is nothing more frustrating than poor customer service. In fact, a survey published in the Customer Experience Impact report found that 82% of consumers said that they stopped doing business with a company because of a bad customer service experience.
While good customer service starts with training your employees on the fundamentals of excellent customer service, they still may be lacking the tools needed to be successful.
Loss of a Long-Term Customer
A long-term customer called into a national satellite tv provider to inquire about a higher rate on his bill. The customer service representative followed all of the steps taught for excellent customer service. She apologized, explained the charges, offered different packages that would provide a lower charge and offered to cancel the service with only a $5 monthly fee for the remainder of the contract.
What the representative didn’t do was actually look at the customer’s history and account. The customer had not been on a contract for several years and had negotiated a lower rate with a prior customer service representative two weeks before.
While the satellite rep did everything she was taught, the company ended up losing a long-term customer because they didn’t take the time to listen and research the customer’s history or account.
No Deal
A potential customer called to set up services with a national internet company. A local technician was scheduled to arrive at the customer’s house during a four-hour window and the customer took time off of work to make sure to be home. As the four-hour time frame came to a close, the customer called in to report that no technician had arrived. The customer service representatives apologized profusely and explained that the technician didn’t arrive because he thought there was already service at the address. The representative explained there was phone service at the address, but not internet, which was to be installed. The technician was rescheduled for a different date.
The next installation date came and went with no technician arriving. During another long call to the company, the customer talked with four different representatives who all offered conflicting information and reasoning as to why the technician had not arrived. The final representative apologized and revealed that the home’s address wasn’t within a working service area.
In both scenarios, the customer service employees followed the steps they had been taught but still ended up losing the sale. Customer service has evolved and now requires a different set of tools to avoid losing customers and sales.
Customers don’t want a canned response. They want someone to listen to them and understand their specific situation. Throw out the old rule books about customer service and instead work to truly engage with each customer. Take the time to understand their history with your company and what their needs truly are.
There are Customer Relationship Management software solutions that can help. Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows your employees to have 360 degree insight into the customer’s details, demographics, history, purchases transactions and more.
A North Dakota not-for-profit tied their phone system into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, giving customer service representatives an instant view of which customer was calling and their prior history with the company. They saw customer satisfaction skyrocket and in turn they started retaining more customers and increasing their customer base.
How many more customers can you afford to lose because you didn’t tailor the customer experience to each specific individual?
by DFC Consultants
The post Why Training Employees in Customer Service Isn’t Enough appeared first on CRM Software Blog.