Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service with CRM Software, Third Edition
Chapter 9
Identifying The Ten Deadly Sins of Customer Service with CRM
Would you do business with you?
- Linda Silverman Goldzimer
“I’m First”: Your Customer’s Message to You
Everyone has pet peeves. Little things that annoy them beyond reason. When you were young, doing the obnoxious little things that set off your little brother or sister was funÑand funny. As adults, we recognize that annoying little habits and idiosyncratic behaviors are not only bad manners, they also can get you into serious troubleÑespecially on the job.
Knock Your Socks Off Service with CRM is a positive, reaching out philosophy. But part of serving well is knowing what not to do. It’s impossible to anticipate everything that might get under the skin of a particular customer. But there are things that irritate almost all of us when we're on the customer side of the counter. Avoid these irritants with Customer Relationship Management for your own sake as well as your customers'.
Here are ten “sins” you can control with CRM behaviors and actions that some service providers (never you or us!) exhibit that customers say annoy them most. While our list is based largely on our research with customers and service professionals, as well as on our own experience as customers, we're also indebted to Dr. Karl Albrecht’s book, At America’s Service (Business One Irwin, 1988).
Ten Sins You Can Control with Customer Relationship Management
1. 'I don’t know.'' A survey of retail customers in Washington, D.C., found the number one reason for switching to catalog or Internet shopping was that salespeople in stores were so ignorant about the merchandise. Customers expect you to know something about the products and services you sell. If you really can’t answer a customer’s question, instead of saying, “I don’t know,”adding four essential words to the sentence,”but I'll find out” will make a huge difference. Report the incident in your CRM software.
2. 'I don’t care.'' Customers want you to care about serving them. They want to sense that you take pride in what you're doing. This reinforces that they've made a good choice by doing business with you . Research your CRM. When your attitude, conversation, or appearance makes it clear you'd rather be somewhere else, they'll find themselves wishing the same thing.
3. 'I can’t be bothered.' Actions really do speak louder than words. Believe it. If your conversation with a co-worker or an obviously personal phone call takes precedence over a customer, or you studiously ignore someone’s attempt to catch your attention, your customers will be annoyedÑand rightfully so.
4. 'I don’t like you.'' Customers are sensitive to attitudes that subtly or overtly say, “You're a nuisance; please go away.” And no one enjoys the occasional encounter with a customer service person who is openly (or even covertly) hostile. The more aggressively obnoxious your behavior, the more memorable it will be for your customer, for all the wrong reasons.
5. 'I know it all.' When you jump in with a solution or comment before a customer has finished explaining his or her problem or question, that’s being pushy. So, too, is trying to force a customer to make a buying decision. Knowledge with CRM is a tool to help you serve customers better, not a bludgeon with which to beat them into submission.
6. 'You don’t know anything.'' There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers. When you rudely or insensitively cut off, put down, or demean customers for having a confused or wrong idea of what exactly they need or what you can do for them, you slam the door in their face. Next time, they'll look for another door to walk their business through.
7. 'We don’t want your kind here.' Prejudice, like customers, comes in all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, ethnicities, educational levels, and any other characteristic you care to name. But regardless of class or category, every customer is an individual who wants (and deserves) to be treated with courtesy and respect. Show them you care by using CRM. Do you treat customers who show up in a suit and tie better than those who dress in jeans and a T-shirt? Do you assume that elderly customers won’t be able to understand complex issues or that younger customers aren’t seriously interested in buying anything? Your attitudes show in ways you may never even suspect.
8. 'Don’t come back.' The purpose of serving customers well is to convince them to come back again and again. The easiest way to discourage that is to make it clear in words or actions that they're an inconvenience in your day that you'd just as soon be rid of once and for all. Thanking customers for their patronage and loyalty builds a relationship that can grow and mature.
9. I’m right and you're wrong.' One of the easiest (and most human) traps to fall into is arguing with a customer over something that really is more a point of personal pride or pique than professional service. Customers are not always right, of course, but it doesn’t cost you anything to give them the benefit of the doubt.
10. 'Hurry up and wait.' More than any other variable, time, and the lack of it, is the number one obsession for people today. Everyone starts with only twenty-four hours a day; no one wants to waste a minute of it, whether waiting for something to take place or being forced into a hasty decision that they'll sooner or later come to regret. Respect your customer’s time and you'll find they respect you in return.
Baber’s Rules of Customer Service
