5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear..

9
11/6/13 5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear...EVER | LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131106020449-3154163-5-things-customers-don-t-want-to-hear-ever?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0 1/9 Tweet 57 49 Oh companies. Relationships are SO much easier than you make them. In fact, there are only a few things that you need to do in order to make your customers significantly happier. Or rather, there are a few things you must stop doing and saying that will change your customers' experiences drastically. I've compiled a short list for you (though there are more). Here are some things you need to stop doing and saying: 1. "It's our policy." Now, you may use this and think: "Why is this wrong? It enables a fair way to treat customers across the board." The problem with trying to treat customers the same across the board is that not every situation is cut and dried. And, frankly, some policies are antiquated and outdated. The moment you have to let a customer down by saying "it's our policy," you are failing that customer. And yes, I know that you don't want your customer service staff running all amok with bleeding hearts and breaking your bank, but that is why you need to train them properly and empower them to help your customers. A good customer service policy is to: a. train your agents on multiple scenarios and then; b. give them a buffer allowance each month and; Tara's Recent Posts Meritocracy is Almost as Real as this Unicorn October 28, 2013 Those Who Stand for Nothing Fall for Anything October 20, 2013 Top Posts Paul Metselaar My First Job: From Pizza Delivery Boy to CEO 88,889 views Nancy Duarte My First Job: I Got An On-the-Job MBA 29,621 views James Caan How to Create Success By Being Ruthlessly Focused 22,036 views Sallie Krawcheck The Top 10 Financial Mistakes Women Make 21,572 views John Donahoe My First Job: What Unloading Beer Taught Me About Leadership 19,061 views 11 Posts 11,455 followers Follow Tara Hunt Tara Hunt is digital/social media marketing pioneer, an author, entrepreneur and speaker. 5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear...EVER November 06, 2013 18,519 262 82 Like 107 Share 702 See all Today This Week All See more

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Page 1: 5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear..

11/6/13 5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear...EVER | LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131106020449-3154163-5-things-customers-don-t-want-to-hear-ever?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0 1/9

Tweet 57 49

Oh companies. Relationships are SO much easier than you make them. In fact, there are

only a few things that you need to do in order to make your customers significantly happier. Or

rather, there are a few things you must stop doing and saying that will change your

customers' experiences drastically.

I've compiled a short list for you (though there are more). Here are some things you need to

stop doing and saying:

1. "It's our policy."

Now, you may use this and think: "Why is this wrong? It enables a fair way to treat customers

across the board."

The problem with trying to treat customers the same across the board is that not every

situation is cut and dried. And, frankly, some policies are antiquated and outdated. The

moment you have to let a customer down by saying "it's our policy," you are failing that

customer.

And yes, I know that you don't want your customer service staff running all amok with bleeding

hearts and breaking your bank, but that is why you need to train them properly and empower

them to help your customers. A good customer service policy is to:

a. train your agents on multiple scenarios and then;

b. give them a buffer allowance each month and;

Tara's Recent Posts

Meritocracy is Almost as Real as

this Unicorn

October 28, 2013

Those Who Stand for Nothing

Fall for Anything

October 20, 2013

Top Posts

Paul Metselaar

My First Job: From Pizza

Delivery Boy to CEO

88,889 views

Nancy Duarte

My First Job: I Got An On-the-Job

MBA

29,621 views

James Caan

How to Create Success By Being

Ruthlessly Focused

22,036 views

Sallie Krawcheck

The Top 10 Financial Mistakes

Women Make

21,572 views

John Donahoe

My First Job: What Unloading

Beer Taught Me About

Leadership

19,061 views

11 Posts 11,455 followers FollowTara HuntTara Hunt is digital/social media marketing pioneer, an author, entrepreneur and speaker.

5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear...EVER

November 06, 2013 18,519 262 82

Like 107 Share 702

See all

Today This Week All

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11/6/13 5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear...EVER | LinkedIn

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c. give them all sorts of ways to help the customer instead of shutting down the conversation.

If they have a certain budget to play with each month where they can make a decision on

whether to give a customer a break or take a return marked "no refunds", they can use their

training to decipher a reasonable response and then be empowered to make it. Here is an

example:

A customer calls their cell phone company and says, "My bill is outrageous! I didn't realize

that going over my data would cost me an extra $200! I can't afford this!" The agent then can

walk through a customer's bill and figure out if the mistake was made in earnest and then

either undo the $200 OR adjust the bill a smaller amount (maybe cut it in half), but talk the

customer into a more robust ongoing data plan (which can help the company make the

money up in the long run).

Of course, if a customer doesn't know what to expect, this is an issue in itself. Which leads

me to #2.

2. "It was in your contract."

Newsflash: nobody actually reads contracts. I'm not sure why anyone uses a big long

legalese document to give customers upfront information about a service. It's the worst way

to present information in the universe. You may as well write it in Sanskrit on a stone tablet.

I'm not saying your customers have no responsibility to read what they sign, but when you are

excitedly signing up for a new service or website or whatever, the last thing you do is to sit

and read a long document. And the salesperson moving the sale through doesn't really give

you much of a chance either.

Why not present limitations and terms and conditions in a readable, fun manner? A great

example of turning boring, mandated information into something people will engage in is Virgin

America's awesome in-flight safety video. Everyone knows that when those safety videos

come on, our eyes glaze over and we focus on the book or magazine or anything else. But

not when you are on a Virgin Flight:

Right? You don't have to go to that level of production, but why not make it readable and

enjoyable? This way, you will never have to say, "It's in your contract." Your customers will

know. In fact, they may even be able to sing it back to you.

3. "See our answer here [with link]."

Why not just talk to me? Seriously. If I ask something that is too long for a tweet, answer me

with a few tweets. That's cool.

Scenario:

@myhandle: Hey cable company! Why am I on hold for over 45 minutes today? WTH?

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11/6/13 5 Things Customers Don't Want to Hear...EVER | LinkedIn

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@cablecompany: @myhandle Sorry for your inconvenience. Go check our outage schedule

here: [link to website]

Grrrrrrrrrr. A wee bit of effort would help a whole lot here. I have probably already gone to your

website to find your really hard to find number to call to be put on hold. I'm trying to use Twitter

to get some answers and be more efficient. Don't make me click something else!

This would be better:

@myhandle: Hey cable company! Why am I on hold for over 45 minutes today? WTH?

@cablecompany: @myhandle Sorry for your inconvenience. I see you are calling from

Toronto where there are lots of outages. Can I help?

@myhandle: @cablecompany Yeah. Do you happen to know what's wrong? When the cable

service is expected to be fixed?

@cablecompany: @myhandle I just checked internally. It's a weather issue. :( It may take

more than a few hours. Sorry! Time for a good book? :/

@myhandle: @cablecompany LOL. Okay. Maybe it's the universe telling me to hit the gym.

LOL.

@cablecompany: @myhandle Hit the gym for me, too! Oy! ;) Sorry again!

Even if it doesn't go as smoothly as above, it's a MUCH better interaction. I can hang up the

phone with a bit more information and reset my expectations. I also feel taken care of even if

the representative couldn't give me a definitive answer.

4. [Insert Lame Company Excuse Here]

Just recently, we had a ISP tell us that their service was bad because one of their partners

(the people who owned the fibre) were playing dirty.

Really? I couldn't give a damn. Fix our service. I don't need to get involved in your business

drama. I've just paid you $300 to get my internet installed. I'm not your mediator. Guess what

happened? We canceled, asked for a refund, then went to the partner in question. They

seemed to have the upper hand and get things done. We wish we knew that in the beginning.

Your company woes are YOUR company woes...and quite often they are the result of bad

decisions/deals you've made (short-term thinking). Your customers don't care, nor should

they. They just want to get the stuff they paid for. Don't make excuses. Fix it. If you can't fix it,

own up to it and refund your customers. Apologize and hope that they will forgive you and

come back when you've fixed your stuff.

The customer experience should be seamless and simple. The mess and duct tape and

hoops behind the scenes? Invisible to the customer's eye.

5. [Silence]

It's late 2013 and 72% of customers expect a response within the hour on Twitter from your

brand after they complain. And it doesn't really matter if it's during business hours or not.

I, personally, have a black list of companies I will no longer buy from after getting radio silence

to a concern or complaint. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Even the most angry complaints can be handled. People are just upset and need to be heard.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was to respond to an angry complaint like this:

A. Identify

B. Apologize

C. Assist

@myhandle: @restaurant FU! I will never eat at your awful overpriced restaurant again!

@restaurant: @myhandle Oh no! What happened?

Follow

Jordy Leiser

Co-Founder and CEO at StellaService

TOP

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Tara Hunt

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+ 257

@myhandle: @restaurant After waiting for a table FOREVER, your server treated us like crap

and the food was cold by the time it was served. Grrrr.

@restaurant: @myhandle Oh man, it sounds like you had the WORST experience. It's not

what we aim for. Is there any way we can make it up to you?

@myhandle: @restaurant I don't know. I don't want to feel that way again. But I appreciate

your response. Maybe it was just a bad night.

@restaurant: @myhandle I know you don't want to take my word for it, but it sounds like it

may have been. Let us know if you want to try again. We'll set you up. :)

@myhandle: @restaurant Okay...well...I'll consider it. Thanks again. I feel kind of bad for

being so angry now.

@restaurant: @myhandle I would have probably felt the same. Glad I could help.

Identifying completely diffuses a situation. Trust me on this one. Even if you can't help

someone, just identifying and apologizing will help. And that customer will feel a bit bad for

blowing up at you online. If they don't come back, they'll certainly tell the story differently. This

time, you'll be cool...not a jerk that doesn't listen.

...

So there you go. Simple ways to respond to customers in a way that will help you build bonds

and loyalty and probably a few more sales rather than letting angry customers fall through the

cracks (and tell everyone they know about their awful experience). In fact, take some of that

billboard and other outbound advertising spend and put it into your inbound/customer service

channels so you can totally empower them. It doesn't have to be a lot, but I guarantee you that

these interactions will benefit you far more than that extra month on the billboard.

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Add your comment...

James Gormley

Swiss International Finance Group AG

@Tara, you make some interesting points for larger companies. What should a small company

with less than 10 emplyees take away from this?

Customer compaints are actually an important resource for business owners in knowing how to

improve their service. Empowerment is an important point, as passing the buck is not helpful

with client relations. If handled correctly, a complaint is an opportunity for engagement and to

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actually grow the business.

Twitter though is no more valid than Skype, Viber, Email, or any number of other

communication channels. The client should use the channels offered. Keep in mind too that if a

company has the luxury of staff members sat on Twitter all day, it's the customer who is paying

for that. Buying the budget option and expecting a Rolls Royce service is contra logic. Strategic

business decisions need to be made in the deployment of resources and in the end, some

clients spend much more than others, so there is a heirarchy of importance.

It's easy to make these observations from the outside looking in. Stop for just a moment and

imagine the life of the person on the other end of the call who's baraged on a daily basis by

customer enquiries. You may just want to re-evaluate your position. The world will not come to

an end today because your cable connection is down, and receiving a smiley faced message

about the outage via Twitter does not change the reality; your cable service is still down.

So @Tara; a little test. Keeping in mind that you are not running a service department, so you

should have time enough to reply; how long will it take to get a response? ;)

Like(10) Reply(12) 3 hours ago

Rosemary Shakala, Bharath Raj A, Sahar S., +7

12 Replies

Anthony Fishwick

CEO at IMEX Sweden Flooring Products

James, I agree. But as the phone is getting used less and less for communication,

it has never been so available.

We don't use Twitter, and wouldn't know where to start. We will need to at one

stage, and reckon we'd use a third party to do it professionally for us. Any

recommendations?

Like 6 minutes ago

James Gormley

Swiss International Finance Group AG

Anthony, quite right. We have overlooked the phone. It is the most direct way of

connecting but as Tara pointed out, there are times when the line is engaged and

there is nothing to do but wait. Do you use Twitter in your outreach to clients?

Gavin.... Pretty Woman quotes? Seriously?? OK, I didn't say ignore the bottom

section, but lets be honest. If you have a blue chip company come to you wanting

to use your translating services for the next 10 years for great money, are you

actually going to allow a small fish to put that relationship at risk? If your answer is

anything other than NO, sorry but I don't believe you. Statistically, the bottom 20%

of clients require the most effort to maintain.... That's just the way it is.

Like 13 minutes ago

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Kumar kum

CEO - Business Strategy, Entrepreneur, Mangement, ☆ President- Non-profit, Social

worker☆ let’s Connect☆[email protected]

Great article . how about

Could you tell me your name again?

Let me schedule this for tomorrow

Like(9) Reply(2) 2 hours ago

Bharath Raj A, Pastor Roger Granada, Vishal Goyal, +6

2 Replies

Jessie W

Self Employed

nice points

Like(2) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A and Kumar kum

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Pavan CH

Mechanical Engineer with 6 Years in HVAC , AUTOCAD in Construction

Feild●Seeking New Position● [email protected]

agree

Like(4) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A, Sajjad Madiseh, Kumar kum, +1

Rohit Biddappa

Entrepreneur, Management Consultant & Social Marketer

Fundamentally what disgruntled customers often want the most is not necessarily a resolution

of their grievance but rather empathy and a genuine feeling that the issue is being looked into

and they are being engaged/responded to in a timely and polite manner.

Like(6) Reply(2) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A, Gavin Wynford-Jones, Scott Stevenson, +3

2 Replies

Christopher Elton

Intern (Research Assistant) at NSW Trade & Investment

I definitely agree with this. Better to be a company that comes down to the level of

the customer than a company that goes on the defensive or shifts blame in order to

save face.

Like(1) 56 minutes ago

Bharath Raj A

Scott Stevenson

at MarketSource

Yes, and that brings up one that I was going to post--it drives me nuts when I hear

it:

"I understand that you're upset." It's one of those "non-apology apologies" like "I'm

sorry if you were offended". I don't want you to understand _that_ I'm upset; I want

you to understand _why_ I'm upset.

"I understand that you're upset" comes across as an attempt to "handle" me

without having to really address the complaint.

Like(1) 56 minutes ago

Bharath Raj A

MARY DUFFY

Fashion for the Rest of Us, CEM

Add to that, 'i'm sorry'- 2 oversused words for bad quality or servicewords, not a one-size-fits-all

excuse or an eraser. I would prefer something like, "Let me see what I can do to fix this for

you."

Like(5) Reply(2) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A, Sahar S., Paul Chapa Sr., +2

2 Replies

Gary Barnett

ICT Systems Engineer

Absolutely, something that breaks the 'script' if you like that makes the client feel

like they're not just getting the default company line, but something more personal.

Like(1) 23 minutes ago

Bharath Raj A

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Sara Carter

Accounts Manager at One Click Umbrella

At least they are apologising!

Like(2) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A and Ethan Vaz

Annie Rickard

Head of Marketing at SSLPost

I could not agree more with this article but I would like to add one more...

"Sorry I don't have the authority to do that and my manager isn't here. Can you call back?"

Well then get on the phone and call someone who does have the authority and then call me

back. Better still, solve my problem. I hear this a lot in the UK particularly in call centre and

retail interactions and it is infuriating. What is actually happening here is a reversal of

importance in that the customer is being asked to service the needs of the company not vice

versa as it should be.

Of course this comes down to lack of training and a culture of blame in a lot of cases but

frankly I don't care at the moment of the call. Solve your internal training problem so someone

can solve mine.

Like(4) Reply(1) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A, Punit M., Khaled Bader, +1

1 Reply

Gary Barnett

ICT Systems Engineer

I agree a lack of training, but perhaps a lack of training in the management team as

opposed to the front line person. A lot of the time they are given strict job

descriptions, to a point where deviating from this is frowned on. I think the best way

past this is for the management to have a little more faith in the staff and give them

the authority to help the clients that bit more.

Like(2) 20 minutes ago

Alexandros Andriotis and Bharath Raj A

Stephen Prasantha Fernando

Finance & Accounting Professional with Diverse Functional Experience

I can add one more to thee do not use list. "According to our system .....". System is not god

and is not infallible. It is only as good as the people who use them. Just because the system

indicates something, that does not mean it is correct.

Like(4) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A, Amr Shaaban, Olga Jensen, +1

Sam Kishaish

Project management, organization development, public speaking

"It's our policy" is a horrid excuse. Your policies should support your business, not the other

way around.

Like(4) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A, Sahar S., Gordana Vasileva, +1

Naqib K.

Corporate Accounts Director

Solve the problem well and quickly, this will please the customer and make them like your

company more. Customers should be asked "what result would you like from this?". The

customer can explain and the receiver can then work with them to find the best solution.

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Like(3) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A, Phindiwe Tom-Magida, and Sara Carter

Andrew Midkiff

Leader of Business Analysis Practices and People, who is never satisfied with "the way

it's always been done."

So simple, so clear, yet so rare. Excellent advice for companies. I've been on both sides of the

equation. And so often it's been extremely clear that the poor person on the other side of the

phone trying to "help" me is totally powerless to do anything outside the script. Bad move

company. It causes churn in both your customer service reps, and in customers. And both of

those cost you more money than giving them flexibility would ever do. Good article.

Like(3) Reply 53 minutes ago

Bharath Raj A, Paula Ivertsen, and Srinath Shetty

Dr Maulik Bhavsar BDS, MBA (Marketing)

Executive- Business Development at Shree Krishna Hospital

Excellent article..with great examples selected from day to day customer experiences...or

Moment of Truth for companies where they fail miserably. It needs sense of accountability in

Employees as they should be more practical while interacting with customer rather than to

sound more theoretical while resolving customer concern/ issues.

Like(2) Reply 3 hours ago

Bharath Raj A and Sajjad Madiseh

Vicky Zhang

Marketing manger at ChangZhou Hawk Display Corporation

customers also don't want to hear like :we are out of stock , we've raised up the price now etc.

Like(2) Reply 8 hours ago

Bharath Raj A and Sajjad Madiseh

Ahsen Mehmood

Software Engineer at Systems Limited

An employee also never want to listen these points from its company

Like(2) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A and Jack DiMatteo, CPA

Joshua D. Manjarrez

Himself at ManjoBros

"All of us at [BlahBlah] thank you for bringing your concern to our attention and it will receive

the attention it deserves. Please find a complementary coupon included."

Like(1) Reply(1) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

1 Reply

Naqib K.

Corporate Accounts Director

Coupons seem to work, which shows how easily pleased some people can be so

companies will take the easy way out.

Like(1) 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

Rogerio Fadigas

Director at CARGOFAST LOGISTICS DO BRASIL LTDA

Well said! I never flew Virgin Americas and what a surprise to see its safety video, definitely

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creative way of turning boring into something "people will engage".

Like(1) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

George MacGregor

KTP Associate - Composites Engineer at Cobham Mission Equipment

The one I can't suffer is "we're having problems with our system". It's the go to excuse when

people either haven't bothered to read their email or can't be bothered to do the work because

it's tedious/troublesome. I had this repeatedly from an estate agent, which became remarkable

when they kept using it for months!

Like(1) Reply 1 hour ago

Sahar S.

Sanuri Perera

Graduate in training at Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka

That was some great insight. Glad that there are such interesting articles. Thanks for sharing!!

Like(1) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

Sherie Harkcom

Business Development

Brilliant, Loved the video!

Like(1) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

akinola williams

Agent coordinator/marketing executive at Accessmoreinfo

very good,will definitely help out in some situations.

Like(1) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

Sipho Ndlovu

Founder at Kasi Media House

very amazing

Like(1) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

Apex Tang

project engineer at Fufantooling

Good, that's very useful for me, thanks!

Like(1) Reply 1 hour ago

Bharath Raj A

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