When working in customer service, it’s necessary that you are efficient, quick and have a positive attitude. Now that you have solved the customer’s issue, what comes next? Do you say, “Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a great dayâ€? Yes, but you need to follow up.
Working in customer service, you know how important it is to solve a customer issue—that’s what you’re there for. But your job is not done once the problem is solved. I’ve talked about this before, but you must follow up with the customer. Here are some ways to do so.
Email Follow-Up: When I worked in the travel industry, I would email guests after their vacation was over to see how it went; to make sure they enjoyed their stay. If they didn’t enjoy it, what could we have done to make it better? This shows that you care and are putting effort into improving your business.
Phone Call: I used phone calls after I handled a more serious customer service situation. If someone had special needs for their vacation or something went horribly wrong, I would call them a few days later. A lot of times an issue would go above me to our COO and was way out of my hands and control. I still wanted to make sure their issue was fixed, I didn’t want to assume it was all handled properly. Show them you care. Yes, it can be frustrating and stressful, but I bet the customer feels more frustrated and stressed.
These two simple follow-up “techniques†show that you care and you’re not going to leave them hanging out there alone.
Do you have any other follow-up techniques that you use? I’d love to hear them in the comments below. Have a great weekend.