Wrong! But you do have to make them think they’re right. That usually means some sort of manipulation. Although they may be wrong, ya have to make them, with subtlety, come around to your way of thinking. If you do that well enough then their memory of the experience is as follows:
The art of generating a satisfied customer is not in showing them they were wrong, but in making them believe they were right all along. At the end they should believe that they came up with the solution themselves. This does not negate the customer service role, but rather reinforces it.
Having worked in customer service in the past I can say that the customer is right about 50% of the time. This is mostly due to the fact that they jump in and complain straight away. It’s an offshoot of the “I NEED IT NOW!!!” mentality that is currently floating about. It’s people who don’t step back and take 5 minutes to consider all the facts at hand. Customers nowadays are masters at creating their own issues and then blaming the evil company behind it.
For this, I have a few examples (all real), and I would like you to ask yourself; was the customer right?
- A customer calls a customer service representative, threatens actual violence, representative invites him to the office.
- A customer walks into a shop, refuses to tell the cashier what they want/got, blames the company and apparently the fact that don’t hire people with telepathic powers.
- A customer sends an email in every half hour demanding that her issue is resolved, realises she was doing the wrong thing, blames the company.
- A customer spends 6 weeks demanding that the terms of her purchase are met, states the company is at fault, finally sends in a receipt after being asked to for 6 weeks. This customer purchased the product from another company, blames the company.
- A customer has a completely independent transaction issue with another company, emails in, blames the company.
- A customer puts €160 of Petrol into a Diesel truck, himself, blames the company.
- A customer emails in, states they can’t access the internet, they have no phone, needs a problem resolved, continues to email in, blames the company.
Now, next time ya head into a shop determined to rip the head off the nearest person with a name tag hop down off the righteous horse and think to yourself “Am I really right?”. Even if ya are right, relax, you’ll live longer.
Having considered the above, check out the links below. Remember, warnings on labels are there because somebody did the thing they’re telling you not to do. Think about that next time you’re waving a toilet brush at the power lines.
Dan Higgins 