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Customer Service: Less Talk, More Walk Part 2

By Chris Howard | March 23, 2009

My next two posts are going to give you four tips on how to improve your companies walk immediately. Work these into your customer service department and you are sure to stand out in the crowd.

1. Answer all customer service inquiries within 24 hours.

My preference for online customer service is 6 hours during business hours and 12 during off hours. Whether you are doing your customer service yourself or you are outsourcing it, there is no reason it should not be checked a minimum of 2-3 times per day and that certainly fits into the 6 and 12 hour model.

2. If you have to research an answer, let them know you have received their ticket/email etc and that you will be back to them in a specific time period.

I know of companies who send a ticket with a note that says “someone will be back to them as quickly as possible.” Well, what does that mean? To the client, that could mean hours, to the vendor that could mean days. That kind of customer service leads to misunderstandings and usually a very miffed client.

My general rule of thumb is if it’s an issue that has to be researched, 24 hours is best. If it’s a tech issue, 48 hours works. Keep in mind that in order for this to work, your tech department needs to understand that customer service has told the client 48 hours. Customer service is company inclusive. There is no ONE customer service department. You have to get everyone on board.

If you tell a client you will get back to them in 24 or 48 hours, you better darn well be back to them within that time frame.

What happens if you are waiting on another department, and you are out of time? This isn’t a great place to be in, but write back to the client and explain that your tech department is still looking into this or you have done the research but are still having an issue getting the information they are looking for.

Apologize, if necessary, and let them know this issue is important to you and you are personally looking into it for them.

While they may not be thrilled, your client will at least know it is still being worked on and you won’t have to deal with an angry email coming your way when you miss the timeline you gave them.

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