Can I speak to a manager?

Customer service is one of the toughest jobs ever. When your job has to do with dealing with customer’s frustrations it can be a challenge.

Sometimes customers expectations are really high. Customers’ inhibitions may go down. Have you ever been on the receiving end of these awkward comments?:

‘You always do the same.’

‘This is not what I ordered.’

‘I called specifically and you told me you have it.’

‘You can bend the rules just this one time.’

‘Come on!’

‘You people never do what you say you do.’

‘Can’t you help me?’

Can you stop customers from being frustrated? Can you stop them from being unfair, grumpy or rude? You can’t really, can you?

 

So what really matters here is what you say. Are you ready to be effective and polite? It’s important to remember that good customer service is extremely different in different countries. What is considered to be polite enough in Spain is plain rude in the UK or US.

 

When your company or employer offers the ultimate customer experience, what do they mean? Not what you feel is the ultimate experience. They are offering what the customer considers to be an excellent experience. So your standards are not the one used to measure how good you are. Your customer service is measured according to the client’s expectations. So you better start taking in what different cultures expect from you.

 

The most common issue is facing the customer’s disappointment. What do you say in these cases?

Customer complains in disappointment:

 

‘This is not what I ordered!’

‘You haven’t ordered this?? Are you sure? This is what you told me Sir!!’

‘Oh, I’m sorry for the mix up! What was it that you were expecting? I’ll get that for you right away. Thanks for your patience.’

 

‘I don’t like this, and I’m gonna return it’

‘I’m afraid you cannot return it if you don’t bring it in the original box’

I’m sorry that you’re unhappy with this. Can I help you find a similar item?

 

‘This was broken when I got it out of the box’

‘How do we know that you didn’t break it?? You can’t return it madam’

I’m sorry. That’s dissappointing. Can I get you a new one or would you like to try another brand?

 

‘The sign said that these were on sale’

‘Yeah, that was a mistake. But you have to pay the right price.’

‘I’m sorry. That must have been  If the sign is still up, I’ll be happy to honour the price.’

 

Good customer service includes to apologise. Even when you haven’t done anything wrong. It doesn’t imply an admision of guilt. It just means you’re personally sorry that your customer is disappointed.

 

And of course you would resist any temptation of sharing things like these with a customer:

‘You wouldn’t believe some of the freaks that come in here…!’

‘My last customer was an idiot’

‘People ask the stupidest things!’

ACTIVITY

Think how would you answer the following complains. Write your answers in a comment at the end of this post and discuss them with your colleagues and U24business coach:

1. ‘How do you expect anyone to fill this out?’
2. ‘I’m highly allergic to smoke and that room has been smoked in’
3. ‘You never have what I want’
4. ‘This place has the worst layout I’ve ever seen!’
5. ‘I pitty you mate, the management here is messed up’
6. ‘I was begining to think that no one worked here’
7. ‘Every time I get a bill is screwed up!’

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