Customer Service Training, Tips, Articles & Videos with Myra Golden
The Manager and the Frog: A Lesson in Responding to Customer Complaints
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So, this video is funny. Kermit the Frog calls a retailer to voice a complaint. I cringed in the beginning of the video because the manager did everything wrong from my perspective. But I continued to listen to the dialogue between the manager and the frog and the manager ended up regaining the goodwill of his customer. I offer this video as a training tool for you. Here are some discussion points to guide your training.
Show the short video and then ask your employees what, if anything, they think the manager could have done better.
Probing discussion: The manager starts out by asking the frog several questions: “Did you get the employee’s name? What time of day was it? What part of the store?” A lot of people start off the complaint handling process by asking questions. It seems natural. But asking questions right off the bat, especially a series of questions, sounds like you’re interviewing the customer. In some cases, the line of questioning can actually sound like an interrogation. It’s better to start off by thanking the customer for taking the time to give you feedback and then express empathy for the customer’s situation. Next, an apology can be offered. Only after expressing appreciation, empathy and an apology should questions be asked. Deferring questions until after establishing rapport with appreciation, empathy and apology helps to restore customer confidence and build rapport.
Lesson for your employees: Start off by expressing appreciation, showing empathy and apologizing and you won’t make the customer feel like the conversation is a disguised interrogation. On the contrary…you will establish rapport and begin to rebuild trust.
Discuss what the Manager Did Well
The manager very effectively made the frog feel heard and understood and he appeared to regain the frog’s goodwill. Ask your employees to point out and discuss 3-4 things the manager did right. Debrief this part of the discussion by asking your employees what insights from the manager’s approach might they be able to take back and adopt (or adapt) and apply to their interactions with complaining customers.
Have fun with this YouTube training opportunity. For more tips on complaint handling, check out:
Everything You Need for an Engaging Complaint Handling Training
(Do-it-yourself Training) Get your training materials now and equip your employees to deal with difficult customers with diplomacy and tact, say “no” without causing resentment, respond to negotiation ploys, and resolve problems without giving away the store. View details.
How to Completely Restore Customer Confidence After Things Go Wrong
The Corporate Apology: How to Apologize In 5 Easy Steps
Looking for complaint letter response guidelines
Sorry Works! The Bottom-line Benefit of Apologizing to Customers
Helpful Phrases For Dealing with Difficult Customers
How to Lose a Customer (and your business) Over 8 Dimes
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One of the top reasons customers state for leaving a company is a problem was mishandled. Frontline employees need to be trained to respond to problems with a sense of urgency and to do everything possible to satisfy a customer.
Yesterday I had lunch with my sister and we experienced a little issue with a discount. The situation could have been easily handled in like 2 seconds. But the restaurant employee simply wasn’t equipped to handle exceptions. Watch this video and learn what NOT to do when it comes to customer problems.
Note: Two months after I recorded this video, the restaurant went out of business. They had a strong reputation in our community for delivering poor customer service. No doubt, customer service was a part of the reason they no longer exist. Customer service matters.
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Sorry Works! The Bottom-line Benefit of Apologizing to Customers
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One of the easiest and quickest ways to diffuse anger, create rapport, and regain goodwill with unhappy customers is to apologize. Offering an apology to a customer who experiences a problem should be a natural response from customer service providers. Yet, recent research reveals the startling fact that 50 percent of customers who voice a complaint never receive an apology from the organization.
Not only does an apology provide “soft” benefits such as creating calm, shaving minutes off of talk time, reducing stress on the employee, etc., but it can also translate into significant and measurable savings in reduced lawsuits, settlement costs, and defense costs.
Doctors and hospitals are beginning to discover what savvy customer service professionals have always known: sorry works. A new program for doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators called Sorry Works encourages doctors and hospitals to apologize quickly when mishaps occur and to offer a fair settlement upfront to families and their attorneys. The Sorry Works program has resulted in a dramatic drop in lawsuits. The University of Michigan hospital recently implemented Sorry Works and reports that the number of pending cases has dropped and defense attorney fees decreased from $3 million to $1 million annually. Clearly, sorry does, indeed, work.
Does a $2 million dollar savings based solely on an apology sound too good to be true? Let me walk you through exactly why sorry truly does work… here are the facts:
Anger—not greed—is what drives liability claims.
Doug Wojcieszak, spokesperson for Victims and Families United and author of “Sorry Works” says that anger, not greed, is what drives most medical malpractice lawsuits. Further, Doug says, “Anger is generated when doctors and hospitals “clam up” and refuse to talk with the family after a mistake happens. Anger over lack of answers is what drives families to call an attorney to initiate a lawsuit.”
The same can be said for product liability claims. When customer service professionals take responsibility for blatant errors and offer up a sincere and unreserved apology, they quickly establish rapport and trust and this results in problems being settled much more quickly—and more likely without litigation. An apology helps diffuse anger and reestablishes trust, and this makes everyone happy. The fact is, happy customers aren’t inclined to sue.
The practice of apologizing improves the organizational reputation.
Research has found that when an organization adopts a strategy like Sorry Works, it develops a reputation for honesty.
It is a positive practice to express concern for every problem— you’ll likely find that your trust and credibility will improve dramatically.
Anger diffusion has been proven to reduce the cost of settlement.
Michigan doctors using Sorry Works say families often settle for less than what they would receive in a lawsuit because they feel they are being treated fairly.
TARP, Inc., a 30-year-old firm that measures customer satisfaction and loyalty, has found that an approach to complaint handling, which emphasizes diffusion of anger, actually can decrease the cost of remedying customer problems. Rational customers who feel that a company is concerned about their problems will generally accept a lesser remedy than complainants who are angry.
The simple act of apologizing to a customer can go a long way in diffusing angry customers, restoring customer confidence, and regaining goodwill. Not only that, it will most often decrease the cost of remedying customer problems.
When dealing with unhappy customers, apologize up front and work to quickly correct the problem and you will find that you save your organization potentially thousands in repeat calls, escalated calls, customer defection, and even litigation.
Tip: I suggest employees apologize when the organization is at fault AND when the organization is NOT at fault. An apology when the organization is not a fault might sound like this: “Please accept my apology for any inconvenience this misunderstanding may have caused you.“
You might also wanto to read: “The Corporate Apology in 5 Easy Steps.”
How to Write Business-Friendly Emails That Create Emotional Connections
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Every email your employees send out has your company’s brand in the signature line and it puts your corporate reputation on the line. A great email can completely restore customer confidence in your brand and regain goodwill. But, at the fingertips of a disgruntled customer, your emails can be plastered all over the Internet by way of a powerful blog. In Before You Hit Send, Myra shows your people, step by step, how to craft customized, friendly emails that answer customers’ questions and leave customers with a WOW reaction.
View full outline or register.
Customer Service eLearning from Myra Golden
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6 multi-media eLearning courses designed and taught by Myra Golden
Experience the courses on our website or upload to your SCORM or AICC compliant LMS
This Customer Service eLearning suite includes 6 courses with Myra Golden leading customer service representatives through field-tested and proven strategies for delivering the very best customer service and the very best customer experience.
Myra Golden’s Customer Service eLearning courses include:
- 6 online video courses for employees to follow on their own
- 12-month access to training
- 5 hours of video training (Users don’t necessarily have to participate in all courses – You’ll choose the topics your employees need)
- Training led by customer service expert, Myra Golden
- Interactive exercises and thought-provoking questions to ensure the learning is adopted and applied
- Quizzes at the end of each module to test learning. (Your employees must score at least 80% in each module in order to “pass”)
- YouTube video skits with exercises to keep your people engaged, get them laughing and help make the learning “stick”
- Printable key points
- Immediate password access on our website
- Ready for uploading to your SCORM/AICC compliant LMS or your intranet website
Get the full story on Myra Golden’s eLearning suite, watch a demo, or register now
Tags: Customer Service eLearning, Customer Service Training, Online Customer Service Training
The Issue is Not the “Issue.” It’s how the issue is “handled.”
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Here’s a “throw-back” customer service training video from our early years. But the point remains relevant today. Most times, the problem the customer experienced isn’t the issue at all.
The company’s response to the presented problem usually ends up being the real “problem.” Service recovery has a significant impact on customer satisfaction because customers are more emotionally involved in and observant of recovery service than in routine or first-time service and are often more dissatisfied by an organization’s failure to recover than by the service failure itself. Enjoy this 90-second customer service training video.
This training video is from our customer service eLearning suite…
Complete Customer Service Training Suite
Our flagship program is comprised of 6 online customer service training modules with video, interactivity, downloadable handouts, and quizzes. You have the option of enjoying our interactive online training right here on our site or on your Learning Management System (LMS).
This course includes: Delivering WOW Through Service, Telephone Techniques, Call Control Skills, How to Handle Difficult Customers, and Email Customer Service.
4 Tips for WOWing Customers Who Experience Problems
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Seven years ago I had a new oven delivered to my home. The Sears deliveryman quickly pointed out that there was a small dent on the right side of the oven. The dent did not affect the performance of the oven and would not have been seen because the adjacent cabinets would have camouflaged it. It truly was no issue at all to me. But the Sears delivery guy quickly got a Specialist on the line and then handed me his cellular phone.
“Mrs. Golden, I understand there is a dent in your new oven and we are so sorry about that. We can exchange the oven or we can offer a discount that you think is fair.” I explained that I didn’t need a replacement so she asked me to come up with a figure that I thought was fair. I threw out a reasonable figure and immediately the discount was honored. Both the deliveryman and the Specialist were courteous, sincerely apologetic, and clearly empowered. Their quick recovery WOWed me and believe me, that’s not easy to do.
This week I will share with you Four Easy Things You Can Do to WOW Customers in Problem Situations based on my Beyond WOW experience with Sears.
1. Proactively point out problems before the customer discovers the mistake. (when possible). The deliveryman didn’t wait for me to discover the dent and he didn’t try to cover it up. Proactively pointing out problems creates trust between the employee and the customer and puts you on the path to an amicable discussion about how to resolve the problem.
2. Respond with a sense of urgency. Immediately after pointing out the dent in my oven, the deliveryman pulled out his cellular phone and called the office. He could have simply given me a 1-800 number and told me to follow up. His immediate attempt to resolve the problem created calm and peace of mind.
3. Apologize, even when you’re not personally at fault. I know of no better way to diffuse anger than to offer a sincere and unreserved apology. Always apologize, regardless of fault or personal responsibility. You can simply say, “I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
4. Offer options. The Sears Specialist quickly offered me two choices: replacement or a “fair” discount. Giving customers choices makes them feel empowered and in control and when customers feel in control they are less difficult to deal with.
Proactively address problems and you will create calm and resolve the problem quicker and in most cases, for less money.
Everything You Need for a Total Complaint Handling Training
(Do-it-yourself Training)
Get your training materials now and equip your employees to deal with difficult customers with diplomacy and tact, say “no” without causing resentment, respond to negotiation ploys, and resolve problems without giving away the store. View details.
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Looking for complaint letter response guidelines
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Q. Can you give tips on writing complaint response letters?
I sure can. Here’s my 5-step process for responding to customer complaint emails…
1. Apologize
Making an apology to customers after things go wrong is positively related to satisfaction with the recovery. When a service employee apologizes to a customer, she conveys politeness, courtesy, concern, effort, and empathy.
Take a look at this outright apology from JetBlue Airlines after a major service mishap. (See the first sentence of JetBlue’s response)
Click image to enlarge
2. Acknowledge and Empathize
It’s important for you to acknowledge the customer’s situation and express empathy. This helps you establish rapport and it initiates the trust rebuilding process. Acknowledge and empathize with a phrase such as, “I realize how frustrating it must have been to get the Widget home and discover it didn’t work properly.”
For a picture-perfect example of how to acknowledge and empathize with a customer in a problem situation, take a look at the last sentence of paragraph two in the JCPenney Portraits email below.
Click image to enlarge
3. Provide an explanation of how/why the problem happened
A vital, but often overlooked element of customer recovery is to provide an explanation for how or why the problem happened. Taking the time to explain to a customer what might have caused the problem helps organizations re-establish trust and regain customer goodwill.
Providing an explanation can be as simple as saying, “Thanks for taking the time to let us know about _____. We appreciate customers who let us know when things aren’t right. Here’s what we think may have happened…”
Here’s how JetBlue provided an explanation of how the problem happened in the example letter from above.
“The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue’s pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President’s Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-JETBLUE were unusually long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.”
4. Explain how you will resolve the issue (or tell the customer what you’ve already done)
Take the time to explain to customers exactly what will happen next. This explanation helps put customers at ease and builds confidence that you really care to resolve the issue and regain goodwill. JCPenney Portraits carried out this step (from the example above) this way:
“To that end, you can be assured that your email will be forwarded to the District Manager, Ms. Johnson for her review and investigation. Additionally you will be receiving a letter for four free sheets of portraits at a future sitting as a way of apology. I realize that this does not make up for the time and effort already spent with all of this but I do hope that it does in some way show how truly regretful I am.”
5. Thank the customer for their business and invite the customer back.
End your letter on a positive note with a statement similar to these examples.
Here’s how JetBlue closed its amazing apology letter:
“You deserved better – a lot better – from us last week and we let you down. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to once again welcome you onboard and provide you the positive JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us.”
JCPenney Portraits did it this way:
“We want to thank you for your patronage and for bringing these concerns to our attention. We certainly do not wish to loose you as a valued customer. I am confident that a future visit to our studio will better reflect our commitment to customer satisfaction.”
Follow my simple 5-step process for responding to complaint letters and you will restore customer confidence and regain goodwill after even the most devastating service mishap.
See also: The Corporate Apology: How to Apologize In 5 Easy Steps.
Be sure to also check out this example from Southwest Airlines.
Everything You Need for a Total Complaint Handling Training
(Do-it-yourself Training)
Get your training materials now and equip your employees to deal with difficult customers with diplomacy and tact, say “no” without causing resentment, respond to negotiation ploys, and resolve problems without giving away the store. View details.
4 Better Ways to Handle Consumer Complaints
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If you WOW a customer at the Moment of Truth , the average customer will walk away and tell 5 people about the experience.
If you fail to meet the customer’s expectations at the Moment of Truth , customers are very likely to tell 11 people about the problem they had with your company.
If you drop the ball with customers at the Moment of Truth , but rebound with a quick customer recovery, research shows that the customer will tell up to 17 people about your service recovery.
Did you get that? Customers will tell 5 people if you WOW them, BUT if there’s a problem and you quickly fix it, they will tell more than 3 times as many people as they would if no problem had occurred at all.
One of the fastest and easiest ways to grow your bottom line is to equip your front line employees with skills to respond to complaints and problems in such a way that they completely regain goodwill and restore the customer’s confidence.
Read on to find out exactly how to do this.
1. Resolve problems as quickly as possible. The faster the resolution, the better the chances for maintaining loyalty. TARP, Inc. found that ninety-five percent of complaining customers would remain loyal if their complaint was resolved on the first contact. That number dropped to seventy percent when the complaint was not immediately resolved. In fact, the speed of resolution has a greater impact on future loyalty than the resolution itself. Strive to resolve complaints on the first contact and when that isn’t possible, final resolution should occur within 5 – 10 business days in order to maintain and build loyalty.
2. Give Them Something. Coupons, product samples, and other freebies have a definite impact on loyalty after a service failure has occurred. Years ago American Airlines gave me 7000 frequent flyer miles after I experienced a gruesome delay. And that gift of miles, was enough to make me come back. But don’t take my word for it: A study conducted for the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP) found that 58% of complaining consumers who received something in the mail following their contact with consumer affairs departments were delighted, versus only 40% of those who did not receive anything. Giving customers token items, such as coupons or product samples, after a service failure both increases the perception of value and serves to maintain loyalty.
3. Only allow the friendliest, most helpful, and diplomatic employees to talk to customers. Employee courtesy and attitude are critical factors in regaining the goodwill of customers who have experienced a problem. Customers contacting a company with a problem want to talk to a person who is courteous, professional sympathetic and understanding. Additionally, employees must be skilled in communicating with diplomacy, expressing empathy, and representing the company credibly and convincingly during times of consumer distress. The attitudes and behaviors of frontline professionals form powerful lasting impressions with customers whether these impressions are positive or negative.
4. Encourage your people to “Be Gumby”. You remember Gumby don’t you—the green rubbery figure that Eddie Murphy portrayed so hilariously on Saturday Night Live? In my seminars I teach employees to “Be Gumby” when it comes to dealing with customers. By being Gumby, I mean do whatever it takes to service customers. This includes being flexible, bending over backwards, making a 180 degree turn when you were heading another direction on a non customer-impacting task. It might even mean standing on your head. The idea is to be completely customer focused. Being Gumby guarantees you’ll always make customers happy.
Everything You Need for a Total Complaint Handling Training
(Do-it-yourself Training)
Get your training materials now and equip your employees to deal with difficult customers with diplomacy and tact, say “no” without causing resentment, respond to negotiation ploys, and resolve problems without giving away the store. View details.
I work with companies that are serious about delighting and keeping customers. My blog includes thoughts, articles, videos, and even rants about customer service. Thanks for stopping by. :)
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