Lessons Learned in Customer Service
Kristi Mitchell
Marketing Strategist for passionate service-based business owners who value authenticity, simplicity and client relationships.
How easily can you recall an instance of extremely positive customer service that you received? What about a negative experience?
It seems easier to remember the bad interactions than the good, so I wanted to share a positive story. And I had an entire post written about the wonderful, proactive customer service I recently received from the Apple Store. Aaaaaand....then they dropped the ball.
Everything was going smoothly with the repair of my MacBook pro - the Genius Bar employee was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, the laptop was fixed and shipped back to the store faster than expected, and I received a proactive call telling me that it was passing diagnostic tests but the fans didn't sound right so they were going to replace those for me (at no additional cost) and it should be ready in a day.
The next day I was expecting a call to pick it up and the call never came. I called them and learned that the employee working to install the new fans accidentally broke the logic board in the process. (Which was one of the *many* components that was just replaced when it was shipped out for repair.)
I was annoyed. Don't get me wrong, I understand that mistakes happen. (After all, I'm only in this predicament because I knocked over a glass of water onto my open MacBook.) And I still appreciated the wonderful service I received up until this point. I also appreciated their honesty in telling me what actually happened when I called. But in my eyes, they dropped the ball. I should have received a call when the accident happened. Someone should have owned the mistake and updated me on the new timeline as a result of the mishap.
So instead of reading a completely positive, raving review of my recent experience with the Apple Store, you're getting the whole story and also my takeaways from this situation:
- Customer service is of the utmost importance in business.
- Being proactive goes a long a way.
- Owning up to mistakes isn't fun, but it can make a huge difference to the customer.
Relentlessly prioritize your customers in the year ahead. Happy customers, brand loyalty and referrals are all good for your business.
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4 年Kristi- I feel like our positive and negative experiences with customer service operations are equally valuable. I tend to take mental notes when I have a particularly positive (rare!) or negative experience with customer service, and think about what could be improved. Usually it just comes down to respecting the time of the person on hold, waiting, to let them know they aren't being ignored etc. It's typically the little things that make the biggest impact.