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

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...

....Not your Customers' Business

Many businesses unknowingly communicate their ineffectiveness and point their customers to their competitors when they discuss issues that are not the customers' business with the customers. Businesses deal with a lot of issues in their business environment and their ability to manage these issues either put them ahead of their competitors (competitive advantage) or point their customers to the competitors. It is ridiculous to hear business owners shift the blame of service errors to their employees in the presence of customers; most times with the aim of saving their faces and making their employees look ineffective, they fail to realize that they are only exposing their lack of good business management practices. While small and medium scale businesses are viable sources of growth for a nation's economy, sole proprietors must know when to employ capable hands to carry out key business roles as the business grows. Most sole proprietors assume roles they know they ar...

Why Recommendations Might Not Help Your Decision to Buy (The Nigerian Context)

We seek protection for our money, time and effort when we seek recommendations to inform our decision to procure goods and services. Our usual sources of recommendations are : family members, friends or sometimes friends of friends whom we feel share our interests and would recommend only the best or those they have tried or tested. We rely on the safety nest we build for ourselves in their recommendation(s). This might sometimes not work because our preferences might not be replicas of theirs or their judgment of our preferences might actually be wrong. Subjectivity comes to play most times and I dare say how many people are 100 percent objective when buying? We are often times buying from someone because the seller is our friend, the seller is courteous, the seller also bought from us and we are returning the patronage, the seller will get offended if we are seen buying from someone else, the seller needs help, and buying from them might be a boost, the seller was recommended ...

Customercentrix

Search This Blog