Tuesday, February 14, 2017
By Nancy Friedman, Customer Service Keynote Speaker, President, Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training
FACT: The best weapon for a small business against the BIG guys is Customer Service.
It’s that simple.
We will pay more for better service!
So, if you’re a small business owner (or even a larger company) looking for ways to improve, read on.
Whether your customers come to you via the phone or in person, here are the Telephone Doctor’s Six Cardinal Rules of Customer Service.
Adapting these easy steps will make your day, and more importantly, make the customer’s day a better experience for you and your company.
Cardinal Rule # 1 – People Before Paperwork
When someone walks into your place of business, or calls you and you’re working on something, drop everything! Remember, paper can wait, people should not. We’ve all been abused when we go shopping and been ignored while someone finishes up what appears to be far more important than us. And it doesn’t feel great. Let’s not abuse our customers. Remember: Rule # 1. People before paperwork.
Cardinal Rule # 2 – Rushing Threatens Customers
Rushing the customer along will only lead to them feeling frustrated and intimidated and you won’t see them coming back to you. Take it easy. Remember, speed is not success! Trying to be “done” with a customer as quickly as possible is rude and uncaring. Take your time with each contact. Sure, you may understand something quick, but chances are your customer may not. When we rush anyone, it threatens them. Rule # 2. Don’t rush customers.
Cardinal Rule # 3 – Company Jargon
Some companies have company jargon that makes the CIA cause to be jealous. Be very careful not to use your own company jargon on your customers. You and your employees may understand it very well, but the customer probably won’t. Using acronyms that you and your company created will only cause a lot of unnecessary confusion. Spell things out for your customers. Don’t abbreviate. Make it EASY to do business with – Rule # 3. Remember, don’t use military language on civilians.
Cardinal Rule # 4 – Don’t Be Too Busy to Be Nice
Hey, everyone’s busy! That’s what it’s all about. Being busy does not give you carte blanche to be rude. Remember, you meet the same people coming down, as you do going up. They’ll remember you. Besides being busy is a good thing. It usually means business is good. When you’re too busy to be nice – it backlashes and that’s when things flare up.
Cardinal Rule # 5 – “Uh huh” is not ‘Thank You’ — “There ‘ya go” is not ‘You’re Welcome’
These are slang phrases – and not appreciated in the world of customer service. We need to remember, ‘Thank you’ and ‘You’re welcome’ are beautiful words. The customer cannot hear them too often.
And here’s an important bonus tip. If you’re telling your customers: “have a nice day,” please say it with a big smile and mean it. And consider their eyes when you say it. Look into them. I recently had a checkout clerk tell the FLOOR to have a nice day. She never looked at me. Someone told her: Say “have a nice day” Ouch.
“Thank you for coming in today” or “I enjoyed helping you today” or “we appreciate your business” or something similar that isn’t said in 99% of the places we go. And again, don’t forget to make eye contact when you’re saying something nice. Makes a HUGE difference.
Cardinal Rule # 6 – Be Friendly BEFORE You Know Who It Is
There’s a good lesson to be learned here. The Telephone Doctor motto: SMILE BEFORE you know who it is, will earn you many classic customer service points. The customer needs to know you want to work with them, no matter who they are. Remember, sometimes it’s way too late to smile and be friendly after you know who it is. Where were you when it was needed? We need to SMILE before we know who it is… on the phone and in person. Remember: A phony smile is better than a real frown.
Any one of these tips will boost your customer service!
The following two tabs change content below.Nancy Friedman, president of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, is a featured Customer Service speaker at Franchise, association, and corporate meetings around the world. A popular TV guest, she appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, as well as hundreds of other radio, television and print outlets, around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Financial News. The Author of 9 books on her chosen topics, Nancy’s passion to help corporate America improve their communications, is second only to the material she delivers. You can see her books
here. For more information, log on to Nancy Friedman's website
www.nancyfriedman.com or call (314) 291-1012. Oh yeah you can email her at
nancyf@telephonedoctor.com