Resolve Customer Service Issues With Empathy
by SmallBusinessDelivered.com on September 9th, 2009
Customer satisfaction levels can actually increase based on how companies handle customer complaints. A problem or issue does not define the staff or the company. How it is handled does defines the staff or company.
Customer complaints often stem from the customer not feeling understood. They feel they are being treated like a number or a widget, and not like a real person with real frustrations when issues arise.
Feelings of alienation set in when customers don’t feel listened to. When the statements “It’s our policy to…” or “It’s not our policy to do that” comes into play, any relationship that has been built with that customer will be damaged.
Ultimately, the customer will take their business and their dollars to your competitors that have made customer service a top priority.
In order to resolve issues and keep your customers, respond to issues quickly with empathy. Your customers simply want to feel validated in their frustrations. When a product does not function properly or a commitment was not met, listen to the customer and their frustrations. It is necessary to state that their frustration with the situation is understood. It is an inconvenience for the customer to even have to pick up the phone and make the call to your company, much less hassle over how to resolve it.
