Managing customer relationships is essential for businesses to succeed. Excellent customer service enhances products and makes average products better and excellent products unbeatable. Customers want options, to buy without hassle through easy ordering or knowledgeable representatives, quality products that last, and easy returns or repairs without arguments. Frontline customer service representatives should focus on customers and not personal issues. They should escalate unresolved problems to supervisors and assist customers until problems are solved. Representatives should not leave customers on hold for long without explanation or arrange callback if solutions will take significant time. Businesses cannot assume relationships are fine without contact and must maintain them like machines require maintenance. Devoting to service leads to large profits.

1. CUSTOMERSERVICEMANAGING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS YOUR BUSINESS’S LIFELINE

2. The purpose of a business is to create a customer. Peter Drucker

3. Excellent customer service enhances any product or service. Excellent customer service makes an average product better. It makes an excellent product unbeatable.

4. CUSTOMER RULE #1Customers want an option-either by price, model, color, size, warranty, etc.

5. CUSTOMER RULE # 2 Business Customers want to buy without hassle-either by web site (easy to order, shouldn’t be confusing, clear directions) or face to face with a representative willing to help or answer questions. They should never utter the words, “I can’t help you.” Customers want quick, reliable service.

6. CUSTOMER RULE # 3 Business customers want a good product- long-lasting, excellent workmanship, long warranty, does not break, wear out, and it should do what you told them it would do.

7. CUSTOMER RULE # 4 Products do fail; business customers understand this fact. If they have to return the product or have it repaired, they want it to be easy, no hassles with website, salesperson or technician. Arguing with a customer generally gets you nothing but an irritated customer and lost business.

8. Frontline Customer Service Training

9. Frontline customer service representatives (CSR’s)-technical or non-technical-should be trained to focus on the customer. A customer does not need to know a CSR is having a bad day.

10. CSR’s should be trained to escalate problems to their supervisors. When they run out of authorized solutions, they should not leave the customer without a solution. Either face to face or in a call center, CSR’s should not be afraid to escalate the problem to their supervisors. They should assist the customer until their supervisor or lead takes over.

11. CSR’s should never leave the customer alone or on hold until they (the customer) understand why and for how long they are being left or placed on-hold.

12. If the solution will take more than a few minutes, the CSR should arrange to call the customer back with the solution. No one likes being kept on the phone for more than a couple minutes. Time is money!

13. A working relationship needs to be renewed. If a Customer Service Department hasn’t heard from a customer for a long period of time; it can’t assume everything is fine. That can be a big mistake.

14. Machines can not go with out preventative maintenance, neither can a business relationship.

15. A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large. Henry Ford