How Easy Is Help?
Is your customer help department a “black hole”? If people send in a request or complaint, do they get an acknowledgement? Or is there just silence? How do they know what’s going on?
How many of us have dealt with organisations (particularly online vendors)? I’d imagine the answer is “Quite a few”. Now how many of us have found that getting answers to questions or help with problems is easy with the same organisation? I’d imagine that the answer to this would be “Not quite as many”.
Selling is about people – at both ends of the sale. The customer wants something that does what it should do for the price they’re willing to pay. If it fulfils this requirement, we have happy customers who will (we hope) buy more from us and keep us in business.
We’re at the other end. Our job is to convince the customer that what we have is what they want (and will pay for). The way we react when things go wrong is critical.
I’ve encountered businesses who don’t have a contact number (let alone email) for when things go wrong. Why would this be? The cynical among us would say that it’s because things go wrong so often, that they’d spend all their time sorting out problems. Others might suggest that it costs too much. The final scenario is that there’s a place “somewhere” on their website where one can log a problem.
Not having any kind of facility for raising problems or complaints is likely to be bad news for business growth once the word gets out (which it will these days). Most businesses have realised this and will usually have something (albeit not easy to find).
The next focus should be on how the issue is handled. Ideally, if the only way to log an issue is somewhere on the business’ website, the customer needs to receive an acknowledgment that their issue has been noticed and will be followed up. Often these come from a “Do Not Reply” or “No Reply” email address, which still keeps the customer at bay waiting for a response. Whether (and when) they get one is still open.
Personally, I’m a fan of receiving a response from a named individual and there are businesses which do this well. Equally, there are those that simply don’t seem to have any system.
Unless our product or service is one we can’t do without, we need to have a “problem desk” equipped to handle all issues that may arise. We can’t stop problems happening, but we can control how we handle them.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy
posted by William Martin @ 09:47
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