The Sixth Secret of Customer Service

By Alan Fairweather

Don't you just hate it when things go wrong? You have an angry customer to deal with who's been let down by some aspect of your product or service. It may even be an internal customer, a colleague or even one of your team who's unhappy with your service to them. Don't panic! This is a fantastic opportunity to show just how good your customer service really is.

The sixth secret of customer service is "Recovery." If you recover well from a difficult situation, then customers, internal and external, are very likely to forgive your mistake and even praise the quality of your service. When things go wrong, customers want you to solve their problems quickly. They don't want to hear excuses, who's to blame or why it happened; they just want it fixed fast.

Say, for example you have a restaurant and you served a meal that wasn't cooked properly or wasn't hot enough. You would need to apologize, assure the customer it will be fixed and then do it quickly. Then tell the customer that they won't be charged for the main course or give them some wine or a free desert. Then, when that customer talks about your restaurant, they'll tell people - "There was a small problem initially but when I pointed it out, they really moved themselves and they couldn't have been more apologetic."

So don't be afraid when something does go wrong; you can 'recover' from this situation and make a really positive impression on your customer.

Overall, customers just want to feel good. They want to feel better after they've dealt with you or anyone in your business, than they did before. If you can create that feeling, then you're well on the way to creating a successful business.

Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More Sales by Motivating Your Team." Visit his web site at http://www.howtogetmoresales.com to sign up for his free newsletter.