Customer service - the good, bad and ugly
OPINION: I spent Friday night at the Electra Business Awards up the Kapiti Coast, north of Wellington, and it served as a timely reminder that great customer service is what separates the winners from the pack.
Everyone has war stories about dreadful customer service and, frankly, I’d suggest you all get venting about them because these days, crap customer service isn’t acceptable.
Here’s a couple of stories which illustrate the difference between good and bad customer service is often down to a change in attitude and a few dollars. The damage to your brand from poor service lasts a long time and travels far.
A friend of mine decided to buy a new car. It was a big milestone not only because it was a lot of money for her to spend, but because it was the first time she’d ever owned a brand new car.
She went with her husband to the car yard and despite being told repeatedly that it was she who was buying the car, the salesman directed all questions and answers to her husband.
Regardless, she bought and paid for the car on the Saturday and on the Monday rang to find out when she could pick it up.
A different salesman picked up the phone, had no idea which car she had bought, complained that people had been sitting at his desk over the weekend and messed it up, whinged that he couldn’t find any paperwork and said he would have to call back to tell her when she could go and collect it. This is not acceptable. What if this had happened? She arrived at the car yard and was offered a good coffee, she was treated respectfully. They could even have offered a quick car valet for her old car while the couple were in the show room?
The car yard should have been ringing her and volunteering to deliver the car at a convenient time. They could have arrived at the right time at her house with the car and a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
Think I’m crazy? Well, the story she would have told me would have been wholly different and she’d have been recommending friends and family to use the dealership, which is not the case now.
Flip story: I signed up for Spotify but stupidly used an email address for a job I subsequently left so the email account was shut down. I couldn’t, of course, remember the password so I was stuck in cyber hell.
I was paying Spotify a monthly fee, didn’t want the service but couldn’t access it to close it down.
I had that vague sense of panic which you get when you enter the world of online dealings where you spiral between stock answers, confusing website links and desperation. But I girded myself and emailed Spotify to explain.
They emailed back within minutes. The email sounded like a real person had written it, and it even had a name at the bottom.
OK, the first reply was clearly a standard answer telling me to do what I had already tried to do, but that was fine. I emailed back and explained and said I needed a different solution.
Over a series of emails – all of which were quickly responded to by Spotify, clearly by a real person who was trying hard to help me – we finally sorted it out. They traced my account, confirmed it was me, offered solutions – they could transfer my playlist to an new account or just shut it down.
We agreed I had close my account. They were cool with that and then they refunded my final monthly payment as we’d ticked over the payment date as we were trying to sort it out.
I love Spotify for this. Maybe I have low standards, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told people this story as an example of good customer service.
Brands and businesses take note.
You might think you don’t need to worry about your customers because there’s always another one right behind them but remember this: word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool you’ve got and, with social media, it’s stronger than ever. Fail to look after your customers at your own peril.
By the way, well done to all the finalists and winners at the Electra awards; clearly your customers come first.
❚ Sue Allen has worked in journalism, communications, marketing and brand management for 15 years in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool you've got and, with social media, it's stronger than ever.