by Kirk W. Johnson

Created on: June 28, 2009   Last Updated: July 06, 2009

Friendly customer service is really a redundant phrase. True customer service is always friendly. To deliver such service one should Listen and Learn, Level, and deLiver. One who follows this format will provide excellent (and friendly) customer service.

Listen and Learn

This is a very important starting point in the deliverance of quality customer service. It is impossible to help a customer if you don't take a moment, step back, and actually listen to what they are saying. Many times, the words out of their mouth don't actually tell you what it is that upset them. For example, I was irritated with the slow service at a local restaurant, but when I complained to management, the reason that I was angry was the fact that the assistant manager tried to make his staffing problems, my problem. All I really was looking for initially was an apology for the service and maybe a dollar or two off the bill. After his response, it cost an apology from him, his boss, the district manager, and $50 worth of gift cards. This was because the original assistant manager didn't Listen to me and Learn what he could do to solve the problem.

Level

After learning what the customer REALLY expects (most often less than you are willing to actually give to keep this customer), now is the time to be honest and fix the problem. I had a boss at a national retailer that would listen to a customer demand a free $700 patio set because they were unhappy with one chair and someone had made them angrier by not listening to them. He would then apologize for the behavior of the associate, apologize that the customer was unhappy and had gotten a defective product, and then he would tell them, "I can't give you a free patio set, but what I CAN do is give you a replacement chair." He didn't try and make excuses for any of the customer's problems, he didn't tell them he would "see what he could do", he didn't offer them some other solution. He let them know he heard what they said and he told them how he could fix it - point blank.

Deliver

Once you've told your customer how you can fix their issue, DO IT NOW. Don't promise something that you can't make go one immediately! There is too much chance that you can forget, lose the product, or have something else go wrong and that will infuriate your customer even more. Take care of it now and make sure you take care of it right.

Good customer service isn't really tricky. If you put yourself in the place of your customer, most of the time, the right solution will present itself to you.

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