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My Favorite Things, Part 1

By Chris Howard | May 7, 2009

I’m often asked to share my favorite customer service tools. Surprisingly enough, in this computerized age, none of them are electronic. I don’t believe it matters if you are an online business or an offline brick and mortar company, all of these tools are indispensable in either type of business.

#1 A smile.

Whether you are on the phone, in person or even in an email, I am convinced that people “feel” your smile. They know whether you are happy to be working with them or not. In person, you can see the smile and can feel the warmth when someone truly cares.

On the phone, it’s apparent by a warm “hello” rather than an abrupt “Can I help you?” The way that is usually said, it sounds more like a command than a greeting. What’s worse is it’s usually after waiting 10 minutes of being routed around an automated help desk just to get to a real person (and hopefully the right person).

A smile can be felt in an email by simply starting the greeting with a hello. I do not believe smiley faces should ever be used in formal business emails because they appear unprofessional. It can also be quite infuriating as the consumer if they aren’t getting the answer they were hoping for with a smiley face at the end.

I do believe that you can make a person feel your smile by a nice greeting and closing the email with “have a great day” or “please let us know if we can be of further assistance.”

Topics: Customer Service | 147 Comments »

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