Be Honest... Does Your Service Suck?

Customer service is at the core of any successful business. It contributes to your business’ growth and ability to attract new customers. The challenge is that most business owners underestimate the time and organizational structures needed to facilitate outstanding customer service.

That is why it is crucial to include customer service in your business plan. If you are a sole prop, it is up to you to review the time, processes, and software needed to be efficient.

Over the three decades, I’ve worked with many growing online companies. Too often, those who offered the epitome of an excellent customer service experience at the start would eventually lose their way.

Why? Lack of planning leads to lack of time, lack of resources, and, therefore, lack of service.

How does customer service get sucky?

Your business grows too quickly, and the start-up culture is lost along the way. Along with the attitude you had when you were hungry. Stay hungry, my friends.
Some get overly confident, thinking folks won’t look elsewhere because their product or service sells so well. Never make this fatal assumption.
Those responsible for customer service are not qualified for the position. Most can only read off of scripts and seem unable to use any cognitive thinking to acknowledge customer concerns.
Qualified customer support personnel who do care are not given the authority to make things right or channels to bring to light needed and necessary improvements.
“This call may be recorded for quality assurance.” But nothing ever changes. Customer service is unremarkable, and everyone just goes through the motions.

Treat customers like numbers, talk to them condescendingly, and correct them because you don’t appreciate why they are upset, and you won’t have to worry about as many customers. Don’t be that type of business.

My commitment to offering customer service above and beyond what folks expect or are used to has undoubtedly contributed to my success. Thirty years later, I still handle every inquiry personally and promptly, and from the customer’s perspective, they are delighted.

Smaller companies do not realize how excelling at customer service separates them from all their perceived competitors. In addition, they have the advantage of being more flexible and able to do “what is necessary” to resolve customer concerns.

Excellent customer service is a game-changer.

How to Tell if Your Customer Service Sucks

You get around to replying to emails when you bring to it.

Prioritize response time. The faster you can respond, the better. And not with just “a response.” Be sure to provide details or resources in your initial response to cover all possible concerns or queries.
Business email etiquette matters. You should not email business contacts with the same style and tone as you do your friends.
Formality and professionalism go hand-in-hand with trust and legitimacy. Every person using your company email address must excel at communicating with the written word.

Nothing less will do. Informal email communications can reflect a lack of credibility and typically are aligned with — service that sucks.

You don’t appear to be trustworthy.

Yes, your website can tout how great you and your product or service are. You can list all your accreditations and awards. However, if that isn’t backed by the most standard and everyday customer service basics — your business will most likely fail.

PRO TIP: This includes a website that is all HTTPS. The secure socket layer (SSL) is standard, customary, and included on all professional web hosts. Without SSL, potential customers will get a security warning before accessing your site. Why would this be a customer service issue? Security is a customer service issue because HTTPS/SSL encrypts the data transferred between your site and your visitor’s browser.

Next, ensure your About page is not generic and focus on details. Tell your story, include photos of you and your staff, and explain why you are passionate about what you do.

Don’t forget policy transparency; that minuscule fine print doesn’t count. Make sure that contact forms and frequently requested information are easy to find. Also, a code of ethics and privacy statement should be offered.

You send surveys but do not act on that input.

Or, you don’t ask how well you did because you don’t care. Either way, your service probably sucks because you are not using the available information to be the best you can be.

Every one of us can continually improve. Personal growth includes being open to bad reviews or disappointing input so that your company can meet its full potential.

You assume it’s all about price.

The race to the bottom with the least high price will not necessarily ensure you are the company folks will choose to do business with — or that you will be profitable. In my experience, the folks buying on price alone aren’t always worth catering to.

Instead, look at providing value. Offer a price that allows you to provide the service you know customers will need, want, and appreciate. Most folks will pay more when they know they are getting above-and-beyond service.

Don’t Have Customer Service that Sucks

How exactly do you do that? By consistently putting the customer first, regardless of the situation. If you make a mistake, you fix it times ten. You own it, and there are no excuses.

You put on your customer hat and do what is necessary to ensure your customers get more than expected. Then, you have the personnel, policies, and practices in place to make that happen.

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work, he is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business, he is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi

Live by those words. Yes, it takes a lot of work, but that’s how you play the long game.

Excelling at customer service may seem like a rarity in today’s arena. Unfortunately, this fact makes customers less tolerant of ongoing issues and inconveniences.

The door is open for you to step in and use that to your advantage. When you offer extreme customer service, you stand out—big time.

That’s what I call opportunity.

At your service,