How to Get Good Customer Service

Customer Service-people chuckle, grimace and always have some opinion about whether or not it's available anymore. Some have even mentioned that they feel it's one of those oxymorons like "giant shrimp". I say you can get excellent help, if you know how.

Yes, I'm a writer-but only part-time. A girl's gotta pay the bills and this freelance position isn't exactly up there in the pay scale, so I have to maintain a "day job" position and for the most part my job is customer service, so I know of whence I speak.

To get someone to help you isn't really difficult or time-consuming, it's not even a secret-one must simply treat the person who is at the other end of the phone (or desk)as if they are not something less than dirt. Truly. Here are just a few of the ways to get people who are in a position to aid and assist you with a tough problem.

First, since I work in designer plumbing sales, let's start by using a possible scenario:

Your kitchen faucet is 2 years old, the pull-out hose is losing it's finish and instead of "tuscan bronze", polished chrome is peeking out. Everytime you spray something you see this imperfection. The part is under warranty. You would like a new hose. How do you get it?

1. Look up your paperwork or at least know how it was purchased. Call the business you bought it from. With today's computers and the proper information can be obtained in a few minutes. However, after two years, don't expect them to remember if it was purchased under your designer's/contractor's name or yours. Don't expect them to be knowledgeable of the details of your sale. If you can't remember, give several options! A computer is a helpful tool, not a mind reader.

2. Don't use profanity. Think before you speak. The person who's asking questions is trying to help, if you call them names and scream, trust me, they will hang-up or stop even making an attempt at solving your problem. Remember, they didn't cause the problem and without the proper information, they can't request the item from their vendor. The questions may sound absurd, but they are probably being asked for a very good reason.

3. Say "thank you". Two simple words that might mean the difference between this human being pulling out "all the stops" in a speedy fashion or putting your desires at the bottom of their Mt. Everest-sized heap.

One office manager, who works for a large furniture company, said he literally bent over backwards trying to get a leather repair company out to a customer's home, just because they talked to him in a pleasant tone and thanked him, ahead of time, for any help he could offer. The kicker: they admitted they were calling for help due to their cat's claws scratching the new recliner. The young man could have just said "Gee, sorry. Here's a number of someone we use". Instead, because they were so polite to him, he proceeded to sweet talk the company into fixing it free of charge.

On the flipside, one business owner answered her business' main phone line while the receptionist took a break, the customer on the other end starting screaming and calling "the receptionist" every name they could push out of their mouth, all over a cap on the bottom of a toilet that their plumber whacked a little too hard and broke! It was a simple fix, plenty of them in the store's warehouse-which any of the staff would have given out free. However, since this person was so rude, the business owner put them on hold for a few minutes, then came back on the line and asked if they were feeling a little less tense yet?
She told them that help would indeed come, but only after they apologized to the "receptionist".

Of course, with a volatile person such as this, there was no apology-so there was no help.

Customer service isn't a thing of the past-it just takes a little finesse.