Top 5 customer service mistakes - PIPEFY

TOP 5 CUSTOMER SERVICE MISTAKES
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Top 5 Customer Service Mistakes
and how to avoid making them

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
INTRODUCTION 3
C H A P T E R 1
WHAT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE? 5
C H A P T E R 2
WHAT’S THE SECRET FOR PROVIDING EXCELLENT
CUSTOMER SERVICE? 7
C H A P T E R 3
WHAT MAKES A CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE GREAT? 13
C H A P T E R 4
THE 5 MOST COMMON CUSTOMER SERVICE MISTAKES
(AND HOW TO AVOID MAKING THEM) 19
CONCLUSION 24
MANAGE YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH PIPEFY 25

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INTRODUCTION
I N T R O D U C T I O N
People often make the assumption that customer service refers to all activities
related to providing support and responding to the customers’ questions.
While that assumption is not completely incorrect, customer service goes way
beyond that. If I needed to define customer service in a single sentence, I’d
say it’s about ensuring customer satisfaction throughout his journey.
Customer service influences every single interaction
between a customer and a product or service provider,
from the first contact to building a lasting relationship
after the sale.
In today’s highly competitive market, providing customer service that exceeds
expectations adds a lot of value to a product/service and is seen by many
people as an important competitive advantage (research shows people
are actually willing to pay more to a company that provides great customer
service).

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Investing in providing excellent customer service is essential for building
lasting relationships with your customers and gaining brand ambassadors.
Some companies, however, due to lack of information or instruction end up
making a few mistakes in their efforts to provide what they believe to be good
customer service, which ends up hurting their image more than helping it.
I’ve decided to write this short ebook to tell you a little more about what customer
service is, why it’s so important and, finally, the 5 most common customer service
mistakes and how you can avoid making them.
INTRODUCTION

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C H A P T E R 1
W H AT I S C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E ?
The general concept of customer service encompasses everything related to
ensuring your customer is satisfied with your product/service.
Customer service can manifest itself in a wide variety of situations: from
making a sale to handling a support request, through in-person interactions,
on the phone or online chat.
Every interaction matters and providing the customer with what he needs can
make all the difference between satisfied and unhappy customers.
As mentioned above, customer service plays a very important part in
developing and maintaining an ongoing relationship between your company
and its customers.

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According to numerous research, acquiring a new customer can cost 4 to 10
times more than maintaining the ones you already have. It’s also been proven
than investing in the quality of your customer service almost always implies
higher retention rates.
Keeping an existing customer vs attracting a new one:
A company is a result of the combined efforts of many people. Even though
there are many professionals working “behind the curtains” to provide
a better customer experience, the ones that influevnce the customers’
perceptions the most are those that get actively in touch with them.
That’s the main reason why all companies must invest in high quality customer
service. Customer service makes your customers satisfied and, in return,
creates a steady revenue flow for your company. That’s the very definition of a
win-win situation.
Why would you neglect such an important aspect of your
business, one that can save you thousands of dollars
you’d need to invest in acquiring more customers?
It sounds rather obvious to even have to point this out, but the answer
is simple: if you wish your business to grow and thrive in today’s highly
competitive market, you must invest in making your customers satisfied.
KEEP AN EXISTING CUSTOMER ATTRACT A NEW CUSTOMER
1xkeep
=
4 to10xattract
=
CHAPTER ONE

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C H A P T E R 2
W H AT ’ S T H E S E C R E T F O R
P R O V I D I N G E X C E L L E N T
C U S TO M E R S E R V I C E ?
Almost every successful company out there has realized at some point how
important it is to provide customer service that not only meets the customer
expectations, but exceeds them.
Every single interaction matters, that’s why it’s essentially important to have a
customer oriented culture in which employees are trained to be courteous,
helpful and sensible during all interactions.
Exceptional customer service is more than just talking
or listening to what the customers have to say. It’s about
paying attention to them and being aware of how they
feel.

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When a customer is facing a situation (especially if this situation is a problem)
they must receive timely attention.
It shouldn’t make a difference if they’ve sent an email or
contacted you on the phone, tending to these situations
as quickly and effective as possible is critical for a healthy
relationship.
If a customer reaches out with an issue, it’s normal to expect a timely solution.
The same customer representative that made the first contact must be
responsible for following through the entire flow until the situation is resolved
(without endlessly transferring the customer to various representatives before
finding the one that can solve the problem).
Let’s not take things so literally, though. If the situation requires sending
someone to solve the problem in person (as it happens when your cable or
internet isn’t working) or transferring a call regarding a complex problem on
to the technical support team, that’s ok.
Another very smart move is following up with the
customer after every issue is taken care of. Reach out
to the customers a couple of days after his contact to
evaluate whether they were satisfied, if their problem was
solved and to ask if they need anything else from you.
Feedback is one of the most important aspects of customer service. It’s highly
recommended that you survey your customers regularly to find out how
they’re feeling.
Diversify your approach: send them letters, emails, call
them or, if you need deeper insight, set up one-on-one
interviews or focus groups.
CHAPTER TWO

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Your customer is the person that gives you money for what you sell. Not
only are they responsible for paying your salary, they’re your company’s
most precious asset, that’s why their suggestions must always be taken into
consideration.
Customer service, as almost all other customer-related fields, is not static.
Your product/service and your customers are always changing and evolving.
Regularly evaluating what you offer your customers is another important
customer service aspect.
Companies normally start off small with only a handful of employees and a
few customers. It’s easy to manage your customers and regularly get in touch
with them to evaluate their perception.
As your company (and your customer base) grows,
however, your customer service processes tend to
become gradually more intricate. That’s where you
should tread carefully.
Many companies grow too fast and leave their customer service on the
sideline. What good is it to grow if by doing so you’ll sacrifice the quality of
your customer interactions?
It doesn’t have to be like that, though. By establishing and adopting customer
service policies early on, you can avoid compromising the quality of your
service further down the road.
Having clear policies (especially if they’re documented
in writing) is essential for great customer service.
Determine guidelines that specify what customer service
representatives can (and can’t) do when dealing with
customers.

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Let’s use Disney’s guest services guidelines as an example:
Having actually worked at Disney myself, back when I
was in college, I can safely say that these simple and
objective guidelines guide each and every interaction
between cast members (that’s what the employees are
called there) and guests.
Disney is an awesome example of a strong and passionate customer service
culture. Each cast member embodies these principles every time they go “on
stage” (any area where there are guests), and it just comes naturally after a
while - you can’t help it, you just smile all the time.
It doesn’t really make a difference whether you’re running a huge company
with thousands of employees or a startup: everyone in your company must
feel passionately about customer service.
Everyone must always feel motivated and stimulated to provide the best
customer service possible.
CHAPTER TWO
1. Make eye contact and smile.
2. Greet and welcome each and every guest.
3. Seek out guest contact.
4. Provide immediate service recovery.
5. Display appropriate body language at all times.
6. Preserve the “magical” guest experience.
7. Thank each and every guest.

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Let your employees know how important it is to provide exceptional customer
service. Research and gather data so you can present evidence on how
customer satisfaction (a consequence of good service) is directly related to
your company’s success.
According to this customer service indicators article on
Insight Squared more than 80% of the customers affirm
they stopped doing business with a company because
of bad customer service while almost 60% of them are
willing to spend more on companies that provide excellent
customer service.
Establishing a strong customer service culture is more than essential to ensure
customer satisfaction.
Make sure each and every employee in your company knows just how
important customer service is making it so obvious that your customers will
also know it without you even having to say so.
Another important aspect is sharing information. That means more than
just talking to the frontline personnel to let them know if anything changed:
communication is a two-way street.
Talk to your customer service reps and make sure to listen to what they have
to say. They’re in touch with your actual customers on a daily basis, this makes
them the best source of customer insights you could ask for.
Talk to them, listen to their improvement ideas, ask their opinion on service
improvements. They can tell better than anyone else what being in their shoes
feels like and share their point of view.

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The most important aspect in customer service, more
than any other we’ve mentioned before is people want to
be treated as actual people when they get in touch with
customer service reps.
Make sure they refer to the customers by their name, skip overly formal titles,
be objective and never forget to show how important their situation is.
Let’s move to the next chapter where you’ll find out what are the necessary
skills of a great customer service rep.
CHAPTER TWO

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C H A P T E R 3
W H AT M A K E S A C U S TO M E R
S E R V I C E R E P R E S E N TAT I V E
G R E AT ?
As mentioned before, customer service representatives are expected to be
polite, accessible and have the necessary knowledge to deal with the most
common situations.
Other than always being available when the customer needs them (as
mentioned on the previous chapter, a timely interaction can make all the
difference) they must also be exceptionally good listeners and committed to
solving the customers’ issues.

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Half of a customer representative’s job is listening and
actively paying attention to what the customer is saying.
In case of a technical issue, for example, they must figure
out: what the problem is, how it happened, when it
happened, etc.
Speaking well is just as important as listening. Customer representatives must
be able to communicate well and convey their messages clearly, being polite
and courteous at all times. Conflict resolution skills and crisis management are
also extremely useful because more often than not (especially on the phone)
customers may get a little carried away or even downright rude.
It’s up to the customer representative to remain calm and polite at all times
(even when the customer is shouting or cursing your mom).
It falls under the company’s responsibility to provide up-to-date information to
their customer representatives. Keep them on the loop and inform them every
time a new feature is launched or something is modified and could potentially
impact the customers.
Having the most accurate and updated information on both the product and
company policies makes all the difference. What if you called a company’s
support regarding a newly released feature and the reps didn’t even know it
was released? That would be a big problem, wouldn’t it?
Customer service is more than just talking to customers and providing
support, though. It’s about assessing their satisfaction and constantly seeking
feedback.
You’ve probably heard once or twice before that a CS representative must
be a “people’s person”. This is not necessarily wrong but it’s way too vague to
provide any guidance.
CHAPTER THREE

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A great CS rep is made of a mix of specific characteristics
that may be thoroughly developed with guidance and
training. Let’s learn more about the set of skills that can
make your customer service go from “ok” to “exceeds
expectations”.
Patience. There’s a reason why patience appears at the top of
this list. Dealing with disgruntled, unsatisfied customers can (really)
challenge the CS rep’s patience.
Even though the representative is not responsible for the problem
himself, people are always looking for someone to blame. Since the
person they’re talking to about the problem is the closest, they’re
normally the easiest target.
Don’t confuse patience with slow service, though. Customer service
representatives have to be patient, take their time to listen to what
the customer has to say and provide timely solutions.
Competent service and problem resolution demands time and even
though you may think customers will get frustrated if their issue is
not fixed right away, they’d get even more frustrated if you provided
a quick temporary fix and the problem ended up coming back in no
time.
Attention. First and foremost, what every customer seeking
customer service wants is to feel like he’s being heard and
understood.
Effectively listening and paying attention is very important for
providing great customer service for a variety of reasons, such as:
The more information a customer provides, the more likely you are

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to find out what the actual problem is and how it can be solved.
If it comes to an issue that needs to be forwarded to a technical
specialist, for example, gathering as much data as possible is
essential for replicating and solving the problem;
Customers that get in touch with customer service are a precious
source of feedback. Customer service reps must always pay a
lot of attention to listen to what the customer is saying while also
interpreting what he isn’t saying. For instance, it’s not very likely that
a customer will say “you need to improve your page’s navigation”
but when he says he can never find a certain menu or button, that’s
exactly what he’s saying.
Communication skills. We’ve already mentioned how important
communication skills are when it comes to customer service. The
representatives must be able to make the customer feel like they
understand the situation and how it can be fixed.
Great customer service is somewhere between a scripted dialogue
and a relaxed conversation. Customers want to feel like they’re
talking to a human being (instead of a scripted machine) but they
don’t need to know how your day is.
Pay close attention to communication habits and choice of words. It’s
always better to be safe than sorry.
Miscommunication happens! Sometimes you say something and
the customer understands something else. Try avoiding that by
providing clear, objective answers with carefully chosen words and
asking the customer if he has understood you clearly.
CHAPTER THREE

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Empathy. Believe it or not, one of the things that makes customer
service great is empathy or the ability of putting yourself in the
customer’s shoes and seeing things from his perspective.
This isn’t always easy, though. A customer service representative is
expected to know quite a lot about the product or at least more than
your average customer.
Teaching customer service reps to put themselves in their customer’s
shoes is not always easy but it’s a must to have great customer
service.
Instruct CS reps to see things from another perspective by asking
them questions like “how would you feel if this was happening to
you?”.
Information (product knowledge). You may think this one goes
without saying. It doesn’t. The best customer service reps know how
to use the product, they’ve experimented with it themselves and
instead of only knowing things in theory, they know how it works.
I’m not saying that each and every CS rep must know all the
technical details of the product. That’d be a lot to ask. What they
need is to know the basics of how the product works so they can
actually understand how a customer uses it.
Another important aspect is making sure that CS reps are always
aware of new features or any other necessary modifications that may
result in an increased amount of contacts.
If the software development team changes a feature and this change
can impact any number of customers and possibly cause complaints,
they must inform the customer service team so that they’re prepared
to respond appropriately.

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Stress/conflict management. Customer service representatives
are often the target of the customers’ complaints (even though
they’re not the ones to blame for the situation).
Disgruntled customers often use altered tones of voice: they scream,
they swear, they tell you you’re the source of all their troubles. That’s
ok, a problem happened and they decided to blame it on you. It’s
not personal, that’s just their way of dealing with it.
Great customer service reps know how to keep their cool under
any given amount of pressure so they can thoroughly analyze the
situation.
Focus on identifying the issue and making the customer feel like
you’re actively listening and paying attention.
CHAPTER THREE

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C H A P T E R 4
T H E 5 M O S T C O M M O N
C U S TO M E R S E R V I C E M I S TA K E S
( A N D H O W TO AV O I D M A K I N G
T H E M )
Great businesses know how important customer service
is for their company’s success.
We’ve already mentioned the secrets for providing customer service that
exceeds expectations as well as what makes CS representatives great.
Now we’ll go through some of the most commonly seen customer service
mistakes and what you need to do to avoid making them.

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1. UNTRAINED STAFF:
Customer service is an art. Having great customer service
representatives that provide exceptional service is what
most companies want (or at least that’s what they should
want).
Of all the skills that make CS reps great we’ve mentioned, none of them is
something people are necessarily born with. They can all be learned, trained
and improved.
Customer service representatives must have all the information they may
need, as well as the autonomy for making quick changes without having to
pass the customer on to 3 other people before the situation can be solved.
They must be polite and patient at all times and always make sure they use
appropriate language.
Most of the times it’s not about what you say, it’s about how you say it. CS reps
should always use appropriate language with carefully chosen words with the
right intonation.
That may be a bit harder when it comes to digital channels (such as in-app
chats) but their manners should always come off as friendly, helpful and in
sync with the brand’s tone of voice and policies.
2. NOT LISTENING:
I couldn’t possibly stress how important it is to actively listen to your
customers (but I’ll try anyway, even though it sounds really obvious).
Customers need to feel like you’re actually listening to
what they’re saying instead of making condescending
assumptions and interrupting them.
CHAPTER FOUR

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CS reps must know how to listen and understand what the customer is saying.
Each person that calls/creates a chat has a unique problem. Ignoring the
specific information they provide and giving them generic answers is a sure
way to irritate them.
Instead of giving a standard scripted answer or pointing them to your
website’s FAQ, listen to what they have to say so you can provide the specific
answers they need.
I know it sounds way too obvious to even have to say it but this is one of the
most common complaints about customer service.
3. NOT CARING:
The quality of your customer service is directly related to how you make your
customer feel. Does it sound too complex? Well, that’s because it is.
We can’t exactly pinpoint the specific signals you need
to monitor to figure out how a customer feels but one
thing is sure: customers judge their experience with your
company based on how their interactions with you made
them feel.
It’s not all about delivering a product/service, it’s about paying attention to
all the little details. If you have a clothing store, for example. The customer
wanted to buy a plain white t-shirt and you provided it. So far, so good.
However, the sales attendant wasn’t polite, your store was a mess and it took
about 10 minutes searching in the stock room to find the right size.
Even though you’ve provided the customer what he wanted, the overall
experience wasn’t good and the customer left your store with a feeling that
you didn’t value him enough.

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What do you think are the odds of this customer coming back to your store?
Not very likely, right?
Solving this problem is a lot easier than understanding it. You must establish
a strong customer service culture all through your company to make sure
that each and every employee knows the impact their actions have in the
customer’s satisfaction and, consequently, your company’s results.
Every little detail and interaction must be as flawless as your core product
is. That’s the best way to acquire loyal customers. Always remember that
acquiring new customers cost a lot more than maintaining the ones you
already have.
4. NOT SAYING YOU’RE SORRY:
Customers normally reach out to a company’s customer service because
something went wrong or they’re not satisfied.
Saying you’re sorry for it is not a bad thing. It shows
empathy, demonstrates that you care and that you
recognize the importance of the customer’s feedback.
Refusing to say you’re sorry (or saying it in a condescending a way the
customer can easily identify you don’t mean it) can make the customer even
angrier.
Another thing you must avoid at all costs is trying to convince a customer that
you’re right (therefore saying that he’s wrong).
Even when a customer requests something unreasonable or is complaining
about a problem that doesn’t exist, always remember: the customer is always
right (even and especially when he isn’t).
Train and prepare your staff so they know how to handle these situations and
present all the existing possibilities to the customer (without ever saying he’s
wrong, of course).
CHAPTER FOUR

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5. NOT FOLLOWING UP:
The customer called, you answered his questions, solved his problem...your
work is over, right? Wrong!
Great customer service is proactive as well as reactive. It
reaches out to the customer to follow up and ensure that
the previous issue was completely resolved.
More than that, it gives you the opportunity of showing the customer how
much you care about his well-being and replace his last negative experience
(when he reached out because of a problem) with a positive one (when you
reached out just to make sure everything was okay).
Many psychology research studies over the years have proven than the
human brain has a natural tendency to remember the first and last items of
a sequence of elements presented to them (primacy and recency effect).
According to the definition of recency effect:
This is the principle that the most recently presented
items or experiences will most likely be remembered
best. If you hear a long list of words, it is more likely that
you will remember the words you heard last (at the end
of the list) than words that occurred in the middle.”
This is the main reason why it’s so important to replace a negative experience
with a positive one, and that’s why you should follow up!
It’s very likely that you won’t have the time or the resources to follow up on
every contact so take your time to analyze each case and determine which
ones would be the best candidates for following up.
If your helpdesk uses a system to support your customer service operations,
such as Pipefy, you could easily use color coded labels to identify customers
you should follow up on and set alerts to remember when you should follow
up on them.

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C O N C L U S I O N
Now that you know how important customer service is for the success of your
business you’re able to evaluate your company’s current customer services
policies and propose improvements.
If you still have any questions about what great customer service looks like, go
back to chapters 2 and 3 and evaluate whether your customer service policies
and representatives reflect the principles we’ve shared.
Customer service is all about people talking to other people about solving a
problem. It doesn’t matter whether they’re doing it via email, chat or on the
phone, never forget that all your customers really want is to feel they’re being
heard and understood.
If you keep that in mind and keep everyone in your company on the same
mindset I’m sure you’ll have no trouble providing exceptional customer
service and exceeding your customers’ expectations.
CONCLUSION

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M A N A G E Y O U R C U S TO M E R S E R V I C E
W I T H P I P E F Y
Pipefy makes it a lot easier to keep track of
your customer service operations. With pre-
designed customer helpdesk and contact
inbox templates you can easily centralize
and manage all your customer messages in
an intuitive platform.
Pipefy’s exclusive features allow you to
create tickets via email (email inbox) or
a public form you can embed on your
company’s website.
Classify support requests according to their
urgency using color coded and setup alerts
to make sure requests are always responded
on time and remember to follow up.
You can also set up automated emails
(email templates) to let the customers know
you’ve received their message and will get
back to them shortly.
Stop trying to keep track of endless email
threads and complicated spreadsheets
that compromise the quality of your work.
With Pipefy it all becomes a lot easier, more
practical and efficient.
What are you waiting for?
Try Pipefy!
start for free!

Top 5 customer service mistakes - PIPEFY

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