How the Generation Gap Affects Customer Service

All customers, young and old, have different ideas of what customer service means to them. These varying expectations require customer service departments to accommodate all types of customers, as well as support the different ways those customers communicate.

Researchers and social commentators divide age groups into a few particular categories, defined by certain experiences and traits.

• Teens

• Millennials/Generation Y: 20’s and 30’s

• Generation X: 30’s and 40’s

• Baby Boomers: 50’s and 60’s

• Retirees: Late 60’s and up

Generation X, Millennials and Teens are most comfortable with computers, so they tend to prefer online channels when they communicate with customer service departments. Since Millennials and Teens use social media sites, they expect to use these accounts to communicate directly with customer service reps.

Baby Boomers and Retirees tend to stick to more traditional and personal means of communication. Though some in this group may consider themselves just as computer-savvy as younger generations, research shows they usually prefer to make a phone call or even go directly to the business to talk face-to-face if they need help. 

Recent research also demonstrates a generational gap when it comes to customer loyalty. With age comes a greater sense of product and company loyalty uncommon in younger groups who are more inclined to go after the best deal or follow a trend.

Keep in mind, these descriptions are flexible and many exceptions to these common behaviors exist. However, in order to provide service tailored to each and every generation, all possible lines of communication should be used.

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How to Make the Best out of Inevitable Hold Times

The only time a customer should be put on hold is when it’s the last resort. This could be when there are more calls coming in than there are people to answer each one, or if additional help is needed to resolve an issue. The challenge is how to keep customers on the line when they are inevitably placed on hold.

Adding music and messages is a great way to make the most of a customers wait time. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing the right audio for your company’s hold time.

Advantages:

• Music can have a relaxing effect on the customer.
• When customers are actively listening to something on their end, their perception of time seems shorter.
• Businesses can use on hold messages to share promotions or information about the company—possibly inspiring future sales.

Keep in Mind:

• Target audience. Choose music you feel a majority of your customers will enjoy.
• Ad length. Keep ads long enough to include important info, but short enough to keep customers listening.
• Loops. Be weary of excessive repetition, which can end up sounding like a broken record. You don’t want to annoy your customers.
• Cost. Some music is more expensive to purchase than others (some is even free). Though recording audio ads may be expensive, the ads will ideally pay for themselves in future sales.

A survey conducted by USA Business Telephone Today found that when on hold, people tend to respond better to music than to silence, and even better to music accompanied by informational messages. 52% of those in the survey hung up after more than one silent minute on hold, as compared to only 13% who had music to listen to, and only 2% that heard music and messages. Notably, the survey also found that the music and messages had a considerable effect on the caller’s perception of the amount of time spent on hold.  All of those faced with silence were convinced that their hold time was longer than it actually was, when less than a fifth of the callers who heard music and messages thought so.

Beyond some initial concerns a business may have about utilizing hold music and messaging, it seems clear that any company would do well to invest in using on hold music and messaging. In addition to better call retention rates, the messages heard on hold may lead to new or increased sales. Be as attentive as possible when on the phone with a customer, and when a hold is necessary, strive to make wait time a positive experience. Listen to customer feedback regarding your hold music and messaging, and take these suggestions to heart. As always, pay attention to what the customer wants above all and work to provide it.            

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How to Transform Your Customer Service Problems Into Solutions

In Spring of 2008, a musician was shocked when he saw United Airlines’ baggage handlers carelessly throw his guitar around on the tarmac, destroying it completely. After several months and many unsuccessful attempts to convince United to pay for the guitar, Dave Carrol took matters into his own hands and wrote a song about his experience, “United Breaks Guitars.” Much to United Airlines dismay, the song was catchy and discussed an experience familiar enough to other fliers that the music video went viral.

United Airlines let bad customer service become a public relations disaster. To help businesses avoid this fate, we’ve put together a list of customer service trends that consumers despise and tips on how to avoid them.

Problem: Phone call menus and unnecessary hold times that cause a simple phone call to take up a large portion of a customer’s day.

Solution: Make sure every phone call gets directly to a representative and hold times (when required at all) are kept short. Mojo Helpdesk can help your employees organize all this information in one place.

Problem: Transferring customers from one department to another, rather than working to resolve the problem right away.

Solution: Make sure all customer service representatives are trainedwell enough in the company’s products to help with all basic issues. Utilize a helpdesk, such as Mojo Helpdesk, to assign customer service requests quickly and easily to the appropriate party from the start.

Problem: Refusing to acknowledge an error, or trying to shift the blame onto the customer.

Solution: Be willing to apologize when there’s a mistake. Focus on trying to solve the problem, and ensure that the customer is feeling heard and satisfied – especially when there is an honest mistake.

Problem: Customer is denied a refund request.

Solution: In cases like Dave Carrol’s where the company is responsible for the damages (and monetary reimbursement isn’t an option), consider offering customers other services, goods or credit to turn their bad experience into a good one.

Problem: Responding to a complaint slowly or not at all.

Solution: Set the goal that all customer service inquiries should receive a response within 24 hours.

Impersonal and frustrating customer service can drive customers to a level of anger that could inspire an angry tweet, a bad online review, a blog post rant, or even a viral video. Good customer service has always been important, but only recently has bad customer service become such a public liability.

All businesses should strive to provide exceptional customer service, but at the very least, no business should fall prey to failures and catastrophes that can be easily avoided. Treat customers with respect and keep customer service interactions personal. Mistakes happen, but businesses should fix and recognize them before the customer feels driven to public condemnation. A business can save time and effort in damage control by never allowing a customer service problem to reach a critical point to begin with.

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Get More Out of Your Helpdesk with Live Chat

Between e-mail, phone, texting, social media, live chat, video conferencing and in person meetings, the methods we use to communicate with one another just keep growing. There are many benefits to the modern age of technology, including new ways to approach business and maintain relationships. With so many options available, where’s the best place to start?

Mojo Helpdeskis a versatile tool for communicating with customers and keeping all correspondence efficient and organized. In addition to full e-mail integration and text options, Mojo Helpdesk can also be integrated with live chat services. Live chat software, HelpOnClick, has put together a step-by-step guide to Mojo Helpdesk with integrating the service. By bringing the live chat functionality into the Helpdesk space, companies are able to offer customers more options for communication, while still keeping communication and chat records in one centralized location.

A live chat option for customer support offers the benefit of instant help when they experience a problem. For many customers, the assurance that the company will be there for them whenever needed provides an added level of confidence when making purchasing decisions. For the customer support staff, it offers the extra benefit of ensuring that the correspondence can be logged and referred to at a later date, if needed. A win-win for both sides involved.

Live chat is also a more flexible method of communication, as it allows support team members to perform basic research in the midst of the conversation without skipping a beat. It’s also easy to double check information for accuracy or look up past responses to similar questions before sending a response without slowing down the process. This benefit works both ways, as many customers find it more convenient to use live chat to discuss an issue while at work than making a potentially lengthy phone call.

Utilizing live chat support has several other added benefits as well. International customer language barriers are no longer an issue. Customers are able to type and read at their own pace, making this type of communication much easier than talking on the phone. For younger customers who have grown up with the Internet as a regular part of daily life, online chat is a normal, quick and expected option for communication.

Live chat integration is only one of the many customization possibilities available to Mojo Helpdesk users. With the flexibility offered through an open API, Mojo Helpdeskusers can incorporate as many new ideas and features into their Helpdesks as their creativity and programming abilities allow. We’ve included the functionality needed to provide consistent, quality customer support, while leaving businesses the room to innovate and take their customer service offerings to the next level.

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10 Ways to Build Customer Trust

The main factor that distinguishes a company that customers feel loyalty towards and those they just do business with is trust. The first step to gaining that trust is to consistently provide quality goods and services, but the factor that really seals it for most customers is the quality of the customer service. If customers feel confident that their questions and issues will be resolved quickly and satisfactorily by someone competent, it goes a long way towards encouraging repeat business. For any company looking to build customer trust, these 10 suggestions are good guidelines to follow.

1. Be Easy to Reach. Every customer should know how to get in touch with customer service. Don’t bury phone numbers and email addresses on a hard to find page on the website. Make sure all inquiries get directly to a human being, as it can be very frustrating to receive an automated response when facing a problem.
2. Keep it Personal. Each customer should be assigned to one representative. Contacting a company about a problem can be more daunting than contacting the individual who was helpful and knowledgeable last time that the customer now feels comfortable with. Mojo Helpdesk makes it easy to make sure customers are consistently assigned to the same representative.
3. Be Honest.  If there’s a problem, address it. Don’t try to dodge it or cover it up. When unsure of what’s causing the problem or how to fix it, it’s better to be honest and show a willingness to learn more than to risk offering inaccurate information.
4. Be Human. It’s easier to trust a human being than an entity.  Make sure customers know the name of the representative they work with and avoid keeping the language used overly formal and stiff.
5. Stay in Touch. Keep customers in the loop with emails about company and product updates and specials. Strive to keep the company top of mind though be careful not to overload inboxes.
6. Don’t be Afraid to Apologize. Dodging blame when the company or representative is at fault is a surefire way to lose trust. People appreciate when someone can admit an error.
7. Be Quick to Make Amends. Respond to any bad customer experience or company mistake with something to make up for it. Make returns easy and offer a future discount, a free item or something comparable that will show customers that concern for their satisfaction isn’t just talk.
8. Be informed. No one’s prepared for every possible issue, but customer service representatives should be trained well enough in the company’s products and services to ensure their responses are always well informed.
9. Be proactive. If there’s a problem with a product or a mistake that’s been made, contact customers before they have the chance to learn about it themselves the hard way.
10. Maintain positivity. Throughout every customer service correspondence, be reassuring and optimistic that a resolution will be realized.

By simply treating customers with respect and honesty, a company can rise above many competitors. By incorporating the rest of these tips, a company will benefit from a reputation of good customer service to the level of customer trust that inspires long-term loyalty. Between repeat business and word of mouth, loyal customers are the best resource a business can hope for.

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Clarifying Customer Concerns

A customer service representative must hone a great number of skills to become outstanding at customer support; the ability to communicate well with customers is easily one of the most crucial. Effective communication is especially challenging when working with a customer who has a hard time expressing the problem and what is needed to resolve it. When this occurs, it becomes the representative’s job to help clarify the customer’s concerns.

Customers who know they need help, but just can’t articulate their needs begin their customer support experience frustrated. To overcome this frustration and the confusion that fuels it, a customer support representative must be calm and reassuring at every opportunity. Start by encouraging the customer to explain everything about the issue at hand. Allowing them to talk it out clarifies the issue while giving the customer the chance to vent their frustrations. Once the customer is finished, repeat back all relevant details to demonstrate that the issue has been heard and understood.

If this initial explanation doesn’t provide enough information to identify the problem, ask questions to narrow down the likely causes of the customer’s concerns. As a better understanding of the issue develops and the best course of action is determined, let the customer know exactly what steps will be taken next and their expected outcome. Make sure to address every question a customer has. Any questions ignored will add to a customer’s confusion and could lead to a misunderstanding of the issue. An assumption made with too little information can lead to an attempt to solve the wrong problem, resulting in more confusion and frustration for the customer.

In cases where a representative still has difficulty determining the issue after following these steps, it’s time to defer to a manager. Keep the customer in the loop when bringing in someone else to help. In addition to offering the assurance that someone’s working on the problem, the knowledge that a manager is personally looking into the case demonstrates that the company cares about finding a satisfactory solution.

Every customer service representative should strive to know the products he or she represents well and be familiar with the likely issues customers may experience. When a customer is confused, it is especially important to demonstrate that the company’s representative is not. Once customers know they’re in  knowledgeable, competent hands, it should give them the confidence to worry less about the problem and instead focus on the solution.

At every step, keep the customer informed of what’s being done to solve the issue, how long it’s likely to take, and the expected result. The best tool to alleviate a customer’s confusion is knowledge. With the proper attention, tone and a careful analysis of the information provided by a customer, most customer concerns should be easy to clarify and resolve.

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Why Social Media Can’t Replace a Help Desk

With the endless proclamations of how crucial social media is to business, a discussion of its difficulties and limitations often gets lost in the hype. Use of socialmedia in customer service certainly has value and shouldn’t be neglected, but there’s a clear limit to what can be accomplished with it. Communication through social media is no substitute for the features and functionality available through a good help desk. To get the most out of both a social media presence and a help desk, it’s important to have a sense of the best uses for each and how to most effectively integrate them.

The way different people use their social media accounts varies considerably. Some spend large amounts of time each day checking in on Twitter and Facebook feeds to contribute their thoughts and ideas, while others let days or more pass in between visits. If the primary form of communication a business has with a customer is through social media, there’s the risk of long lags between each reply. This can extend the time it takes to resolve an issue that could have been handled quickly through a help desk. While it is possible to miss important feedback and questions through social media due to timing, all issues can be tracked with a Help desk to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

Even for users who are likely to check their social media accounts frequently, using social media for extended communication has the clear downside of restrictive character limits. Most problems a customer’s likely to experience will require more explanation than can be expressed on Twitter in 140 characters or less. Understanding the particulars of a customer problem and its desired solution requires a back and forth likely to be slow and drawn out over social media, to the frustration of all involved. In contrast, a Help Desk makes it easy for customers and customer service representatives to provide as much information as needed at each step in the process and enables faster response times.

While the public nature of social media can certainly be a benefit, sometimes providing customer service requires the exchange of sensitive information. In most cases, a customer will be less likely to offer up personal details over social media and a customer service representative should never ask for anything sensitive over a public forum. Further, often the nitty gritty details of a customer service complaint aren’t something a company wants broadcast to a wide audience. It’s good to be able to publicly show a quick response to any complaints a customer makes, but there’s a point where the discussion about a customer issue on social media becomes more of a liability than an opportunity to publicly demonstrate great customer service.

A company should make a point to be aware of and quickly respond to any complaints that appear on social media, but a presence on social media doesn’t mean a full customer service correspondence should play out within that space. When a customer with a complaint is identified, respond quickly and with a suggestion to move the correspondence off the social media channel, including an e- mail address, phone number or link to fill out a ticket request on your help desk. A quick response shows you’re attentive and proactive about solving the problem, without restricting both parties to an awkward, drawn out conversation over a medium not designed to host one. View social media as just one aspect of customer service, it can be the first step in a longer conversation that occurs primarily through tools better designed for that purpose.

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Turn Negative Social Media Feedback into a Customer Service Opportunity

By now, few companies haven’t been inundated with articles, anecdotes and myriad information resources insisting on the undeniable importance of social media to doing business. Not all businesses have been quick to buy into the hype. It can be difficult to embrace a whole new world of digital interactions with customers after years of cultivating best practices with more traditional methods. There are ample benefits to developing and maintaining a social media presence, but perhaps more importantly, there can be serious consequences to ignoring social media.

Word of mouth has long been one of the most trusted methods for customers deciding which businesses to seek out and which to avoid. Twitter, Facebook, Yelp and the various other social media outlets have changed the meaning of "word of mouth" by vastly increasing the audience that any one person has influence over. An unhappy customer no longer just complains to friends and family members – they have the power to broadcast their discontent to a large group of distant acquaintances and strangers. If these very public complaints are ignored, people will notice. Worse, if competitors are doing a better job of responding on social media, a company will fall even further in customers’ estimation by comparison.

This may all sound intimidating, but there is a silver lining. The flip side of the public nature of customer complaints in social media is that the company’s response is also public. Every time a representative responds quickly and helpfully to a disgruntled customer on social media, others see it.

How can a company turn a potentially negative social media experience into an opportunity to demonstrate exceptional customer service?


Have a Strategy – Have a plan in place to monitor mentions of the company in social media and respond in a timely manner.


Respond Quickly, but not Carelessly – The lifecycle of social media is fast, but not so fast that responses should be rushed. Take the time to craft the right response, keeping in mind the best tone to take to avoid escalating the issue.


Be Active Daily – Keep interest in the account fresh with regular updates. Whenever company feedback appears, aim to respond within an hour and definitely respond within a day.


Create Official Social Media Guidelines – Make sure employees know that use of profanity and sexist or racist language is forbidden and talk of religion or politics should generally be avoided. Be aware of competitors to avoid re-tweeting or linking to.


Put Someone Trustworthy and Experienced in Charge – It can be tempting to hand the company’s social media account over to an intern, but the risk in doing so is high. Any misstep in social media will be very public and especially controversial mistakes will likely spread further faster than attempts to correct them.


Do Not Try to Silence People – Probably the best way to make an issue worse is to pretend it’s not happening by deleting messages. Angry customers won’t just go away, they’ll get louder and have even more to complain about.


Enjoy the Free Feedback – Complaints might look bad, but as often as not, they offer suggestions for ways the company can improve.

One of the main reasons to take a professional interest in social media is to avoid the consequences of ignoring unhappy customers, but there’s no reason not to take advantage of the benefits as well. Just as social media amplifies the voices of the unsatisfied, it also gives a bigger platform to the happy customers eager to share their good experiences. It makes it easy to identify regular, loyal customers and express gratitude or reward them with special deals. If a customer service strategy neglects social media, it means many missed opportunities.

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In Written Communication, Tone Is Everything

One of the greatest skills in life, as well as in customer service, is the ability to communicate effectively. For most businesses, the majority of correspondence is now in the form of written communication. The many conveniences of written communication are at times offset by the loss of clarity in tone and intention. Sometimes an e-mail meant to be helpful can be critically misconstrued by the recipient. This makes it imperative that customer service representatives weigh the language and tone used in each correspondence carefully to avoid unnecessary discord with customers.

There are several factors to keep in mind when crafting the tone of written customer service correspondence. To begin with, each company has a preferred way of communicating with customers. Those representing a Fortune 500 company often choose a professional tone, while small businesses a more comfortable, laid back tone. If unsure what type of language is most appropriate for your company, read marketing material from other companies within your industry, and decide which voice suits your company best.

Customer service representatives doing their job well will quickly become relative experts in the industry they represent. Be aware that the kinds of questions and language that increasingly seem basic and easy to you will not be as obvious to customers. Don’t assume they know industry specific terms or information, but at the same time take care not to talk down to them. Make “respectful clarity” the goal of each written interaction you have with a customer. Before crafting a response to a customer’s inquiry, identify what it is they need. It could be an explanation, a desired action, additional information or recompense. Don’t send a response until confident that it will satisfy their specific inquiry.

Follow these steps to avoid misinterpretation within written correspondence:

Read Your Response Out Loud Before Sending
Reading something out loud, a tip regularly employed by professional writers of all types, can help create some distance between the writer and the words, making it easier to identify spots where the tone is off or the wording is awkward.

Choose Your Words Carefully
Avoid words that are ambiguous or overly complex; simplicity and clarity are the goals in customer service. This might seem an overly obvious piece of advice, but paying extra careful attention to word choices can make a world of difference.

Proofread Everything
Enough awkward business encounters have been caused by typos or lazy writing. Don’t ever send anything out that has not been read over first. Avoid the kinds of embarrassing and preventable mistakes that signal a lack of concern to the customer.

When In Doubt, Run it by a Co-worker
A successful customer service team is quick to work together. Co-workers are a valuable resource for a second opinion on the wording of an email. If the issue is particularly complex, bringing a supervisor, or manager into the discussion can also be a great way to ensure the customer's issue is handled with care and sensitivity to their needs.

While all of this can help to ensure positive experiences in written communication, when it comes down to it, there will be times when the best method to help a customer is simply to pick up the phone. When an e-mail exchange isn’t accomplishing the level of communication you seek, a phone call can often go a long way towards clearing up any confusion and make it easier to establish a light, positive tone.

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Turning Customer Satisfaction into Customer Loyalty

Achieving customer satisfaction is a good goal for any business to work towards. Taking it a step further, an ideal goal is customer loyalty. Most people can quickly think of a business they feel loyal to, one they gush about to others and return to again and again for repeat business. How does a company work to gain this sort of loyalty from its customers? Obviously, offering quality and useful products or services is the first step, but while this can result in customer satisfaction, to achieve customer loyalty a business should offer memorably remarkable customer service.

One of the first steps to developing strong, positive customer relationships is to listen. Make it as easy as possible for customers to provide feedback on their experiences with the company and products. There are several options for incorporating a simple system for this, such as Mojo Helpdesk. Allow the customer to provide immediate feedback regarding a customer service inquiry through Mojo Helpdesk ratings, for even better customer communication. This lets representatives know how well they’ve handled the situation and gives customers the opportunity to communicate their feelings on the experience without contributing much extra time or effort. If you're seeking more detailed information, utilize customer surveys. You can also let respondents know how valuable their feedback is by offering a future discount (or something comparable) to those who fill it out.

Ideally, customer complaints would always come through the proper customer service channels, but increasingly some customers choose to turn to social media and online review websites to express their feelings. By monitoring what users are saying about a business in social media and websites (like Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter),  it’s possible to collect important feedback and respond to customers quickly to resolve problems. It also allows for a greater awareness of the customers praising or recommending the company to others and can be used as a venue to express gratitude and show you’re paying attention.

Never forget that the company can’t exist without its customers. Treat them with all the respect this knowledge merits. Respond quickly to concerns they express and work with them on each issue until it is resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.  Most importantly, when you encounter difficult customers, endeavor to win them over with kindness and consideration. Sometimes the most difficult customers can become the most loyal, if their complaints are handled well.

As customer service increasingly gives way to complicated phone menus and websites that make it a challenge to reach an actual representative. When you ensure that your customers have a personal, human interaction each time help is required customers will take notice, and appreciate your company for it. Use sophisticated tools like Mojo Helpdesk to keep track of the history of purchases and interactions of each customer so repeat customers will encounter representatives knowledgeable of their preferences and past. If possible, assign a specific representative to common customers so anytime they need help, they will work with someone they know and trust.

Finally, do everything possible to exceed customer expectations. Encourage customer representatives to approach every customer interaction with the goal of going above and beyond. Surprise repeat customers occasionally with free shipping and discounts. For those who have joined your mailing list, offer special promotions for holidays and birthdays. Take every opportunity available to remind your customers how much you value them and to show that their loyalty is noticed and appreciated.

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The Trials of Providing International Customer Service

The rise of the internet has created an international marketplace unlike anything the world has experienced before. As technology progresses, geography is an increasingly minor concern in how companies do business and professional communities interact. There are many benefits to this: an expanded marketplace for products, greater opportunities for innovative collaboration between different countries and the rise of the virtual business model, just to name a few. With the territory many businesses serve expanding globally, the ability to effectively provide international customer service is a growing concern.

Positive word of mouth is one of the best marketing tools available to any company and repeat business is a crucial component to staying competitive. Social networks and online review sites have further heightened the power that a customer service experience has on future sales and branding efforts. Having a committed staff, well trained in the techniques of keeping customers happy is one of the most crucial resources any business can have.

How does a company equip staff with the proper knowledge to handle the distinct set of issues that arise with international customers? There are several primary challenges one is likely to encounter; listed below are some suggestions to improve customer service and avoid many common issues.

Language Barriers and Cultural Differences
This is probably the most conspicuous of the distinct issues a customer service representative will have to address with international customers. While it’s surprisingly common for individuals in much of the world to have some grasp of English, a company can’t depend on this and even many who have a conversational ability may have a hard time successfully communicating the problems they experience.

Utilize Bilingual Employees
Assign international customers to the appropriate bilingual employee and seek out people with a grasp of the most common languages you encounter in future hiring efforts. With Mojo Helpdesk it is possible to filter all tickets from international customers into specific queues prepared to handle the language barrier or directly to support staff that speak the language.

Use E-mail Correspondence and Mojo Helpdesk
Phone conversations are especially difficult when a language barrier is in play, but utilizing written options such as e-mail and Mojo Helpdesk affords both parties the opportunity to consult dictionaries and translating services to improve clarity.

Be Aware of Different Customs

Amongst other differences, international employees will have different holidays, different ways of addressing one another and different topics that are considered appropriate for discussion. Make sure customer service representatives are trained in the basics of the cultures of customers they’ll be working with.


Different Time Zones
International time differences are often considerable. Most customers will recognize a company’s inability to provide an immediate response to inquiries that arise, but it’s possible to take steps to ensure quick response times.

Use E-mail or Mojo Helpdesk to Communicate
Both options allow the customer and representative to send and receive messages during their respective business hours. It is important to try to respond to these customers within 24 hours to ensure their issues are handled in a timely manner.

Set Up Phone Calls in Advance
When a phone call does become necessary to work out a customer service issue, both parties can ensure availability by setting up a time in advance.

Expand Business Hours
It can be beneficial to employ a customer service representative to be available during the hours the business is traditionally closed. If the need for this is relatively light, assigning representatives particular days to be on call to respond to customer service inquiries that come in during off hours, whether from home or in the office, is an option.

Additional Costs of Doing Business
Most companies are aware that providing international customer service is going to increase their support budget. However, with technology and good planning, it is possible to lessen these costs while still providing quality customer service.

Long Distance Calling
If the company’s phone plan doesn’t allow for affordable long distance calls, Skype, or other online calling services, can offer a more cost conscious alternative and even make it easier to determine the correct country calling code.

After Hours Customer Support
Having employees work longer will increase labor costs, but it is possible to implement a system in which employees can trade out the extra hours worked for time off at another period to save the company money.  Also, hiring a night shift may be the best solution to ensure you have staff on hand for international customers.

Additional Offices
If you have enough international business to merit it, you may find it necessary to open up new offices in the countries you work with the most, requiring additional costs such as new staff, equipment, real estate costs, maintenance and office supplies. Depending on the company's needs, it may be possible to avoid many of these costs by hiring contractors who work from home.

The greater accessibility to global communication in today’s age of technology offers countless benefits in commerce, but it can also complicate the process of providing consistently exceptional customer service. A devoted team can offer positive international customer service experiences with just a little bit of extra effort and awareness of the unique trials involved in working well with customers across the globe.

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How to Turn a Hostile Customer into a Happy Customer

Working in customer service, unhappy customers are an unavoidable fact of life. No matter how experienced a representative is, there will be customers so unhappy that finding a way to turn around their experience will present a considerable challenge. It can be hard to identify how much of the anger they feel is strictly tied to their experience with the product or company, and how much can be attributed to other events that may have accumulated to ruin their day. Regardless of how unhappy a customer is, it falls to the customer service representative to calm him or her down and find a solution that’s satisfactory to all involved.

To start, it’s helpful to recognize that unhappy customers will often want to vent their frustrations and just know someone is listening. Let them have their say without interruption. Asking questions or attempting to argue will only make them angrier. Pay attention and take notes as they explain their problem so you can refer to them throughout the discussion. This will assure them that they have been heard and their concerns are being taken seriously. Repeat the problem back to them so they can feel confident their complaints are understood. If they have expressed a desired resolution, make it clear that it’s been noted and any possible steps will be taken to realize it. This not only shows the customer his or her grievances are being taken seriously, but also that everyone is on the same page.

Finding a solution to the customer’s problem is going to be the key to calming them down. If there is a simple resolution to the issue, explain it and get started working on it. However, in many cases determining an acceptable solution will present more of a challenge. If fixing the problem is against policy, or if there is no policy yet in place for it, avoid explicitly stating this. This will merely produce more frustration and possibly undo the progress made thus far. Instead, let them know a manger will personally be attending to the issue to ensure the situation is properly resolved. No matter what, don’t make excuses for the company or the product. Customers don’t want excuses, they want a solution and it’s the job of customer service to provide them with it. It’s important to stay with the customer until the problem has been resolved so they don’t feel like they are being shuffled from person to person.

No matter how intense a customer gets, keep a calm and friendly tone. Speaking calmly can help keep tensions low on both sides while encouraging a clear explanation of the problem. If a customer yells, responding in a soft and reasonable tone will likely compel the customer to eventually lower his or her voice.

The most important thing to remember when dealing with unhappy customers is to not take it personally. They aren’t angry with any individual, but rather the issue they’re experiencing with the company or product. Taking their anger personally is likely to increase frustrations on both sides and escalate the problem.

Whenever possible, follow up with the customer once the issue has been resolved. This will offer the assurance that the company recognizes that solving a particular problem is only one aspect of the larger goal of customer service: keeping customers happy. A reminder that the company cares can often be the finishing touch to turn an unhappy customer into a loyal one.

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What To Do When the Customer is Wrong

In the business world there are always challenges, but most pale in comparison to the challenge of dealing with people. One of the most revered times in any customer service transaction is when the customer is wrong and employees know it. The old motto is that the customer is always right; however, this should seldom be taken literally. This motto should be interpreted conceptually as, a client should always be given patience, understanding and education to make the right decisions for themselves.

Never lose your cool
No one knows more about a company’s processes, products, services and procedures than the employees who work there every day. For this reason, it is easy for employees to get frustrated with customers who cannot seem to grasp a concept that an employee knows so well. Some customers will be adamant about being correct when they are not; this is where a client service agent must exercise patience and understanding. They must empathize and realize that this person may simply need a little more education on a subject or perhaps a different explanation approach. It is important for employees to never lose their temper or become noticeably upset or agitated with a customer. These behaviors may only enrage a person further or make a situation worse. This is also a sure fire way to lose business and begin building a reputation for poor service. Using phrases like “let me explain it differently” or “does that make sense?” are great dis-armors for agitated customers who are too frustrated to listen or understand.

Customers are not wrong
It is very tempting to tell someone they are wrong when you know you are right. This may be fine in a personal situation but in a business relationship, it is the kiss of death. Customers that are told flat out that they are wrong will feel alienated, discouraged or insulted. Once a customer feels this way, there is little that can be done to bring them back. If the relationship can be resolved, it may cost the company more than that customer is worth in most cases. That is why service representatives must never utter the words “you are wrong” to a customer. Instead, phrases like “tell me how I can help you” or “how can I help you understand” are far less volatile and prompt the individual to offer solutions to their own problem.

The underlying theory of “the customer is always right” is not that a client is correct all the time because they are not. Instead, service representatives should take this to mean that an individual should always be afforded patience, understanding and good service no matter what behavior is being displayed. Representatives should always remain calm and collected. Once employees lose their cool, the entire relationship is lost, which can have much further reaching implications for the organization. Tactics like choosing the right words or trying a different approach with a customer should be employed to maintain a business relationship even when the customer is wrong.

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The Difference Between Customer Complaints and Customer Feedback

Businesses need information from their target markets in order to improve upon the products and/or services that they offer. Sometimes this may come in the form of customer feedback surveys and other times it may come in the form of complaints from unsatisfied clientele. No matter where the data comes from, businesses must act on the information and learn from mistakes that were made.

The difference between feedback and complaints 
There are a couple key differences between complaints and feedback that come from customers. One of the clearest delineations is that feedback is warranted or sought out by a business whereas complaints come on their own. For instance, a business may conduct a satisfaction survey on a particular product after a planned release date. Customers, participants or any other relevant individuals may be contacted and asked to fill out a form answering questions about an experience. This data is then analyzed to identify trends or patterns. Complaints on the other hand may come in the form of customers calling, writing or walking into a company to voice their dissatisfaction with a product or service. Although these interactions and subsequent data are not sought out by a company, information gained from these interactions is just as useful, if not more so. Another key difference is that feedback and the data it generates is not beyond some measure of control. A business may structure customer feedback surveys depending on the type of data they are looking for from customers. In contrast, complaints are whatever a customer makes them.

Using data to tweak processes 
Whether data is drawn from customer feedback surveys or from customer complaints, it can be used to improve how an organization operates. Companies can capture data using customer complaints software or analyze information gained from surveys. The more data a company gathers, the better it is able to see trends that are occurring. Once conclusions are drawn from these trends, decisions can be made as to how to improve a customer service process. Customer complaints, as well as feedback from survey activities, should be taken very seriously no matter how insignificant they may seem. Businesses that allow customer issues to go unresolved run the risk of having these events mushroom into full-blown PR nightmares.

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