Publishing lessons

Sometimes things go wrong, it doesn’t matter how much planning you do there is going to come a time where someone is unhappy, and you need to fix it. There will also be times where a company you depend on makes a mistake and you will need to take responsibility for their errors as well. A simple example of this is your fulfilment partner sending the wrong item to a customer.

Whatever the case, you need to bite your tongue, accept fault, and provide the best customer service possible. I’m a believer that it is when things go wrong we see how good a company truly is and today I would like to share a few tips to help you shine!

1. Respond quickly

I set myself a goal of responding to every email within 24 hours and if I can’t offer an immediate solution, I’ll let them know to expect another email after the number of days I need to get them an answer.

Leaving things unanswered is the fastest way to further upset someone.

2. Accept fault

You are running a business, the email is from a customer, there is no need to assign blame or challenge their request outside of exceptional circumstances. If you accept fault, offer a solution, and move on, the customer will be happier and so will you.

I learned many years ago that the best-case scenario is I can respond to a customer with 1 email and the problem is solved. By challenging the customer, I simply turn 1 email into 2, 3, or more emails, dragging out a simple fix into a weeklong task.

3. Do the work for them

All too often I contact a support email address and they offer a solution that requires extra work from me. Such as, click this link, enter the information into this form and we will process it.

If you have all the information you need, do the task for them and save them from having to repeat stuff. In most cases it will save you time and it will always make the unhappy customer happier!

4. Pre-write common responses

If you find yourself answering similar questions multiple times, then write a response and save it as a template within your email platform. This will help save you time, guarantee you don’t forget something, and make it much easier to respond quickly to the person.

I have pre-written emails pointing people to various pages on my website such as:

• Replacement part requests
• Rules questions
• Donation requests
• Media applications

These pages and forms are a life saver and I highly recommend setting up your own.

A customer for life

For many business owners they see queries from customers and complaints as frustrating tasks that detract from day-to-day operations, I have a different view.

An unhappy customer is often an opportunity to make a customer for life. If someone has had a bad experience and you go above and beyond to fix the problem, you’ll gain a level of trust that can’t otherwise be gotten, and the customer is more likely to come back in the future.