Obvious Questions, Polite Answers, No one's stupid !

Customer Service staff have or rather should have a vast knowledge of the companies they represent; that's why they are front line employees afterall. Some customers, even though they visit a company daily and should know where the company's wall clock and trash can are located, would still ask questions whose answers are known to a two year old. What do you think of the picture below?

Obvious customer question, polite answers, no one's stupid.

Your customer is not and will never be stupid regardless of your opinion. No matter how obvious the answer to a question is, a customer service employee should still answer politely as many times as possible. It is frustrating you might say, but how much better is sitting at your desk without having to attend to a single customer? How much better will it be to receive a notification that your company will be downsizing because sales has dwindled drastically?Or would it be better to have your products rot before your very eyes if you are a sole proprietor?

Every single action directed at your customer comes with a consequence. We often times don't see the consequences eating into our businesses until the damage has gone far. A polite answer hurts no one, and never should your customer be made to look stupid. Even when the customer is stupid, as long as he could make the decision to visit your company and not others, he is still to be treated nicely.

If it is a frequently asked question, print answers boldly in an easily accessible portion of your service area or website. That 's still no reason why the question shouldn't be answered'. Answer politely and refer them to the easily accessible area for a confirmation of your answer and a reference point should they ever need clarification at a future date when you might not be available. Obvious questions go well with polite answers because no one leaves feeling stupid.

Comments

Customer Education : CE Mark on Products

Have you ever wondered what the CE mark you see on some products means? No, it doesn’t mean Customer Education. It’s an acronym for a French phrase (Conformite Europeene) that means European Conformity. It is a symbol of product quality and safety. It is a manufacturer’s declaration that the product has been assessed and it complies with the essential requirements of the relevant European health, safety and environmental protection legislation and is therefore legally fit to be placed on the market within the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein . It is like the United States’ FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and Nigeria’s SON (Standards Organisation of Nigeria) markings on products. Customers should make it a point of duty to check if the products they are buying bear these markings to ensure their safety. While you might be saying “but some manufacturers put these symbols on their sub-standard products without bein...

New Year, Same Old Business

It’s a new year, and as expected, businesses are re-assuring customers of their renewed commitment to serve them better. This, as you would know, includes businesses who have unresolved issues with customers from the just concluded year; but this new year statement of commitment is a trend, so, we all play along. It’s quite sad that in over 6 months of transacting with businesses of different sizes in different sectors in Nigeria, since my return, I am yet to come across excellent service. This is not to say I haven’t noticed any improvement in service delivery but, the customer-centricity factor is still lacking. Business owners brag about how sophisticated their products and services are, and even liken them to what obtains in western countries. They encourage customers to patronize Made in Nigeria products (I support this because it helps the Nigerian economy) but, I still maintain that they still don’t get it. The Nigerian business environment is different, presen...

Customer Experience Starts with Customer Courtesy

The way you make a customer feel about you and your business or the company you work for determines if they would buy from you. We really cannot do business without the right impression. Customer courtesy is a vital component of customer experience and a determinant of customer satisfaction. It is the respect you accord customers as recognition of their value to your business. Many businesses display beautifully worded and framed service charters but act contrary because they lack the knowledge of customer courtesy and its benefit to their business or just choose to be non-chalant. Regardless of what side of the coin a business belongs to, customer experience stands a huge chance of being distasteful without customer courtesy. The common practice in non-customercentric firms is that the service charter remains the dream of management while the employees do as they please. Right from the very moment customers start seeking a business to patronize in your niche, or get attracted t...

Customercentrix

Search This Blog