JS Tip 303: Fighting for Good Service

Tips from Jefferson Smith Training and Consulting

** From the Customer Service Workshops: Fight! Fight! Fight! But Wisely.

We’re still talking about customer service: “Service that exceeds the customer’s expectations.”

But what can you do when it doesn’t?

Five quick suggestions— One: Work for solutions and not for ego. This is a tricky one. What are your motivations? Two: Remain pleasant. You lose your credibility when you lose your temper; it’s too easy to dismiss you as a crank. Your attitude is your choice. Choose to remain calm. Focus on resolving the problem. Three: Take names. This encourages accountability. “Excuse me, what was your name again?” “Thank you.” Four: Keep a record. Write down the names of those you talked to and the times you talked to them. (You can use your phone’s record of recent calls to get specific times.) Your credibility grows when you can say, “I talked with Amber Jones at 9:37 Thursday morning.” Five: Don’t quit. If you can’t resolve the problem at the local level, take it to the higher level. There’s power in the question, “Who’s your boss? Maybe she can help resolve the problem.”

Give us your suggestions. What have you found successful in resolving poor service? We’ll include your answers next week.

We’re grateful to James Cloe of the Utah Transit Authority. He suggested many of these ideas.

We love this stuff.

** Recent Tips

JS Tip 302: On Poor Customer Service
JS Tip 301: On Customer Service
JS Tip 300: Active and Passive Voice, Part V
JS Tip 298: Active and Passive Voice, Part IV
JS Tip 298: Active and Passive Voice, Part III

tips@jeffsmith.comJanuary 23, 2015