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Customer Service 101: Customer service recovery
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How do you know when a customer is upset? Look for signs like body language, tone of voice, pace of speech and then ask:
1. “Is everything going well for you, or is there anything we can do to help you?”
2. “It seems like something is bothering you. Is everything ok. Is there anything I can do?”
Steps to Great Customer Service Recovery
1. Listen
• Listen attentively
• Seek understanding and clarification by paraphrasing and summarizing
2. Trust the Customer
• If an employee replies to a customer by claiming that events did not happen as the customer suggested, the customer perceives that the employee is calling him or her a liar
3. Apologize with empathy
• An apology isn’t necessarily an admission of guilt; it is simply an expression that you’re sorry that your customer is disappointed
4. Take Ownership
5. Fix the problem immediately (or at least show that you are doing all you can).
• Sometimes this means offering another solution
6. Get your customer’s acceptance of your solution.
• A problem is not considered solved until the customer accepts your solution. A victimization is a much more serious issue, and one that you will have to go the extra mile to solve
7. Symbolic Atonement
• If there was a major problem, you need to do more than take these first 6 steps. You need to offer a symbolic atonement. It doesn’t have to be huge. Just do something extra. For example, you can give the customer a discount coupon or a free service.
8. Follow up
• Even after you have done everything you can to solve the customer’s problem, you still need to check in with the customer to make sure that you have solved the problem. This extra step is greatly appreciated by customers
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