Guideline to good customer service

[sassy-girl]

I usually steer clear when threads get out of hand....but I have to step in. I read Jenny's previous thread, and this isn't it! So this thread should be addressed. But since the last one keeps being brought up, here goes....her entire first post on the other thread was taken completely out of context. She questioned her CS skills, recognized a problem with her CS, and asked for help. She was not bragging that she got more sales off of the woman's unhappiness, but rather responded sort of in suprise that the customer's attacks would bring her more business. I'm sure anyone of us would be suprised if that happened to us.

She was Bragging.. The title of the thread was something t'wards, all publicity is good pubilicity. The whole jist of the post was how an unhappy customer said her name on a board, therefore she got more hits to her website and "possibly" more orders.. Anytime a website is mentioned it will get more hits.. people go to look.

[Maddi]

I'm glad you asked Jenny, because it shows that you want to learn

First I'll start with examples of etailers whose customer service is extraordinary in my mind and keep me going back for more of their goods:

Sweet Melissa: Her packages arrive in record time, she has wonderful sales, she packs everything with care, always includes a take-out box FULL of freebies (which is how I sample things I normally wouldn't have in the first place and that's how I found new "favorites") AND she always includes a thank you note, hand-written, in all my orders. I've ordered from her about 4 times within the last month alone and every order had that note...it's the personal touches like that which make me feel valued as a customer. It takes the "production line" feel out of it and places the personal feel. She told me she appreciated my business and her notes prove it to me. She has me as a customer for life...and I've started threads about her site because I was blown away by her product and service. (customers not only talk about the bad...we love to brag about the good too)

Lathers and Lights: Same as above. I feel like I'm getting personalized service and my orders always arrive well packed and with care. With each of my Christmas orders she threw in a christmas duckie and I thought that was cute. Another example of personal touches and care.

Elementals: Here is my only other snafu with a company. My order arrived in a state. I ordered buckets of bath salts and peppermint facial cleanser (and a few other things). The bath salts leaked everywhere along with the peppermint facial cleansers so my box was a big salty oily mess. I emailed them and the owner responded right away, very upset FOR ME, offered me options as to what would make ME happy (she even offered me a full refund on my entire order even though not everything was ruined). I refused that offer since I didn't think it was fair to her plus I was really wanting the product. So instead she told me she'd replace my items. What I didn't know was that she repacked EVERYTHING (again, even the things that weren't affected), my ENTIRE order, and threw in a slew of freebies for my "trouble" and sent it to me priority mail. I was so blown away by her kindness and generosity so I just placed a HUGE order from her store to do something to try to thank her for thinking of me like that and I wrote about my experience in the "positive experience" thread. Like I said, we like to talk about our good experiences too.

So in summary, I like to feel valued. I like to feel comfortable in the fact that if there is a problem with my order, the etailer is going to not be suspicious of me and instead feel bad for the problem and try to rectify it in such a way that I see she/he doesn't view me or my problem as a nuisance. I will always order from those companies I mentioned above because I know they trust and value me.

Look, things are going to happen. Items are going to arrive broken. There are people out there who will recieve broken items at no fault of their own. It's how you handle your customers which separates you from an etailer...and an EXCELLENT etailer.

The Wallmart example is not the same. If I drove to a store and bought a broken bowl, sure, I'll drive back and get a replacement. However, if I ordered something online, I expect my replacement to arrive to me ONLINE.

And someone else mentioned something about part of her order not arriving and the supplier just mailed a replacement, no questions asked. That's wonderful. On the flip side, wouldn't it suck if the etailer made you feel like you actually DID get the item but was trying to rip them off. Or you found out they wrote a negative post about you being a problem customer because of it?

A little kindness and trust goes a long way with most of us. We aren't out to get you. We just want what we ordered, and we want it in one piece. We don't want to have to place new orders to recoup our loss. We also dont want to read about ourselves on other websites, in a boasting manner, making us feel like the etailer was happy that our loss somehow caused her some sort of financial gain. It's insulting.

That's my two cents.

[debscent]

Well put, Maddi.

[SliverOfWax]

Since you are the customer, Maddi, or should I say you were the customer, your 2 cents is the only 2 cents that matters. If she had listened to you the first time, maybe she wouldn't be here pretending to be the injured party.

[Wendy Shoofitz]

Can't find the post now, but I know I read it. IKS, you said you pay someone to do the CS. If that's true why are you asking about it? Fire your CS employee and find someone else. Just another "wonder why" this wasn't mentioned in the first place. Then the thread could have started with "How do I fire an employee?"

[sockmonkey]

Rather than delete posts or lock the thread, how about we stick to the topic of good customer service and don't RE-HASH an old thread that has been removed.

If you want to make antagonizing remarks about the old thread--it's going to disappear.

[Noodle]

I agree that bayousome.com has FANTASTIC customer service. They answer inquiries quickly, have products in stock, are courteous and personal, and ship quickly.

[sudsnwicks]

I agree about sticking to the original topic. Reading through this thread has been so confusing because people keep referring to this other thread which I never saw.

[Michi]

The GOLDEN RULE is what should be taught/learned/used in CS as in everyday life!!

Working in retail for many years, I know it's easier to use honey than it is to use vinegar-that being said, yes I've been known to go outside of my own advice, sometimes there are people who just KNOW how to get your goat, that no matter what you say, do etc. they are just angry hostile hateful people, and it's hard to stay nice and follow the GOLDEN RULE in those instances. Espeically in a face to face confrontation, easier to "take 10" when everything is being done online.

The flu has been running rampant through my house this past week, and I'm still terribly sick-got those dang cold/hot sweats right now (so sorry if this post isn't making the best of sense LOL), I have a million things to do for Christmas for my family etc. (everyone is coming to MY hosue) so I'm a bit frazzled cuz things aren't getting doen etc.

BUT, I had my very first order for a gift basket, mind you it was only for my Aunt, but still a paying customer ya know?!

She needed this basket by the end of this week, but has just asked me about it LAST week, so of course being very small, everything had to be made etc. so I got all that doen before I got sick, but still needed to put it all together and get it shipped THIS week.

So, I put on my mask and started getting it all togehter but didn't get it mailed out until TUESDAY (it was going priority) and prayed it would get there by Friday (just never know with the postal service at this time of year).

This was a gift for a very dear friend of hers, who had tried one of my soaps previously, so it was special to my AUNT and to me (could be a repeat customer ya know? ), so I really wanted it to get there on time.

BUT, because I knew I couldn't solely rely on my crossing of fingers and pryaers etc. I emailed her, told her what was going on etc. and offered her free shipping on THIS order.

Plus when I sent the order, I packed a bunch of freebies in it (I usually just send out one or two sample type itmes).

Well thank goodness she emailed me this morning saying she recieved it already- :whoohoo: and that it's GREAT she loves it and that she's sure her dear friend will love it as well.

Anyway, what I'm saying is shit happens, whether it be my fault, his fault, her fault whatever, shit happens, but even if it takes LOSING money on an order (which I DID), you gotta make things right for the customer (unless it becomes a pattern with this same customer ) so that they will come back for more (hopefully).

Ok, sorry for typos etc. in this post, I'm feeling a little spacey here, LOL.

Oh P.S. Just have to give a whoot whoot to NG-Had a leaky FO, lost about half the bottle, and within 2 days I had a replacement of the WHOLE bottle (not just what I had lost).

Ok off to lie down again-whew! The flu is a bitch with a capital B!

[KristinesShower]

As far as the shipping problem goes - it looks like she got the order today and the post man told her he was sorry, but things were not arriving on time for the holidays. (this wasn't a holiday order anyway - it was wholesale)

I emailed her telling her I was very sorry & I offered her free shipping on her next order. She was very happy with that, but told me don't worry about it as it wasn't my fault - it was USPS's Happy ending!!

As far as who I have running my CS, it is very hard to fire your MIL - long story, long history, can't do it - that is why I am taking over from now on. I know how to fire an employee, but when you have family working for you, it is alot harder than it seems.

Thank you very much Maddi for posting (and everyone else!) - it has given me a lot of pointers for the new year!

[Scented]

Ken Blanchard writes some good books, particularly one called Raving Fans (a revolutionary approach to CS) ... perhaps reading some will help as much as common sense approaches, like pretending you are the customer. You can't educate yourself enough nor would it hurt to go back to basics, as that's how most problems are solved? Yes? No?

[JenT]

KristinesShower:

Glad it worked out for you!! I too have been having a time with shipping....a normal order would take 2-3 days most places and now with the holidays it was taking up to a week to get any where!!

After the time I had last year with broken items and slow delivery...I stop taking orders on the 18th this year and I tell people after the 18th I CAN NOT promise they will have their order by the 24th.

I have just started getting a really good amount orders about a year and half ago....so I am still learning all the good customer service skills there is out there.

I take notes from every order I receive no matter where the order came from. I list the good and the bad and go from there....thinking of way I could make the bad things good or the good things even better.

I read some where that that are 8 steps in good customer service.

here it is

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/customerservice/a/custservrules.htm

"5 Secrets Of Good Customer Service"

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/a/custserviceas.htm

[Late Night]

Thanks for the links Jen. A lot of good yet common sense advise there.

[hawaiiansun]

it's simple.

Treat people how you want to be treated. Talk to people how you'd wanna be talked to. Look at everyone you encounter as a customer. You should offer everyone the same courtesy and concern.

When you are wrong admit it and be responsible for your actions. It's so easy to be stubborn and not want to give in, but do the right thing and I promise you, you will feel so much better.

How often do you get customer complaints? Normally not that often. So replace the items, give refunds, pay shipping whatever it takes. That customer will be happy and you will feel good cause you did the right thing.

If you get a lot of complaints, then you better put CS as a priority and start correcting yourself cause your reputation and your business will go to chits.

I always tell my staff one thing, before you say or do anything take a moment and ask yourself. Is this how I want to be treated? Is this how I want to be talked to?

If the answer is NO, then don't do it.

[sudsnwicks]

I understand you can't fire your MIL. Is it possible to guide her in the right direction?

[KristinesShower]

I think I am just going to pull that responsibility from her.

To tell you the truth, I laid off some of my responsibilities this year because I was having my first baby and I didn't want to add stress (I am overweight and was scared of all the things that could have happened)

Now that Jimmy is here, I can go back to what I was doing before like taking calls and handling all customer complaints (when I have them) & I am wanting to learn how I can improve on this.

I normally don't have any complaints with companies I use because I only use what I know. I don't try out new companies that often and when I do, I always come to the boards to find out their reputations.

I know it has been said about a million times on this thread alone, but sometimes CS is not just common knowledge. Sometimes it is hard to weed out the real complaints and the fake ones, but I am slowly learning you just have to take them all as real and hope you don't get taken to the cleaners for it. (I keep thinking of those emails you get sometimes about free products, Nigerian orders, scams, etc)

[Fire and Ice]

Did you happen to read the thread about IKS' customer service issue before it got deleted? If I hadn't read most of it before it got deleted, I might have thought this was just someone looking for some ideas or advice. But after the other thread, I'm not sure why this one even got started. I think you better have a pretty darn good idea of what good customer service is before you start a business. And I ditto some of the other comments - how would you want to be treated?

Let me tell you something I learned: "The very minute I think I know it ALL, regarding any topic,in business, is the minutes I best get OUT of business."

No matter how many years you've been in business and how many customers you've served or taken care of, you never stop learning to improve in one way or another.

I own another business for 20+ years before I started in candles 6 years ago and guess what? I'm still learning!

Peaks has excellent CS. and excellent shipping rates to me. They are fast, knowledgable and I LOVE them dearly.

Just Scents has quick wonderful service too.