Got Customer Service?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blake Snow is the founder and co-owner of Griffio Consulting, a Utah software company specializing in web-based information systems. He can be contacted at blake@griffio.com. For additional tips please visit his personal blog at www.smoothharold.com.

There are many business books in the world that claim to reveal the next big thing to make money or better run your business. Some are good; most are bad. There are books on management, sales, and even customer service. The last one I think is laughable. Customer service is equivalent to how you cordially serve your customers to make them happy. If you don't understand that, then you might not be able to stay in business.

I therefore present Griffio's "corporate policy" on customer service. It's rather simple and is based on one thing: accountability. Be responsive to those you serve. Here's how:

1. Return phone calls within 1.5 hours - It's tough, but it can be done. You will be surprised at how comforting a returned phone call can be to your customers. By returning calls, they will have more respect for you and your company.
2. Reply to emails on the same day - When someone writes an email, respond to it. It usually takes about 10 seconds to do so. I recently emailed a gentleman inquiring about his marketing services. I still haven't heard from him. My bet is that if he treats his potential customer's poorly, then a paying customer probably won't get much response from him either.

Customer service is about character, not dollars. It's something that is difficult to teach; though it can be done. The above two rules should help your efforts in showing your customers that you care enough to respond to them. They have been the only formal customer service policies we follow and have taken our company a long way in being one of the most responsive firms in our industry. Sure beats reading a long, boring business book on customer service.

| 4/22/2009 4:30:21 PM | 0 Comments