Customer Support Secret - Skip the blame, Solve the problem

How would you feel if you called a customer service centre and instead of the person assisting you, he or she begins to blame another department or another colleague for causing you problem or not getting back to you? Can you picture that?

Most often, customer service personnel unconsciously tend to let you feel it was your fault for having this issue. Or they would say "if you did it this way, you wouldn't have got here"

Statement like these will put a customer in a defensive mode or will get the customer more angry. Especially when you are trying to help a customer, blaming serves no purpose. Just like try as much as you can not to blame another department or another colleague. The customer identifies you as a company. However, it is adviceable to say "I" or "we" when dealing with customers. It personalizes the conversation and this shows that you are accountable.

Little secret, Never assign a blame, when you offer a solution, do not fault the customer. It is true that in your line of business or in real life, the blame game feels satisfying for a moment but it does not actually fix the problem. Does it? Remember we discussed in 'Value Complaints' that very few customers will actually make time to complain directly to you. These customers are either angry or frustrated. I can understand that when a customer has an issue and is angry, it is very difficult to not respond immediately with a blame.

Often, the issue is genuinely not your fault and so you don't feel like you're actually "blaming" anyone by just explaining who caused the problem. Always remember, the customer does not need to know and frankly does not care that it was not your fault. The customer is only interested in what you are going to do to fix his problem.

Customer Loyalty is Key

Stay focused on what you will do to resolve the issues and keep the finger pointing out of it. It doesn't help in building customer loyalty. Staying focused on the solution, does not only make you more effective, but also shows your customer that you are confident and capable.

This results in a more positive customer experience and goes a long way to give the customer an opportunity of coming back to you whenever he or she has issues because he believes in you.

Keep Being Awesome!

Yours Truly,

Ese.

Customer Support Associate,

DreamOval Limited.