If you work at McDonalds or Google, most business men know the key to success, a good customer service team. If you do not have a good customer service team your customers will more than likely flock to your competitor because they are probably much more polite and helpful than your business is. One great example is UPS.
I am going to be blunt, UPS SUCKS! I have been dealing with them since 12/24 to delivery a next day air package and it was finally delivered about 30 minutes ago. That is ridiculous! I called their call center, not much help. Then I emailed the corporate email address I could find and got a response by phone on New Years Day. However, that guy took an additional three days to get it to the recipient. Not great for the corporate level.
Now if one of them could figure out what they were doing I would be highly intrigued. Anyways, the point I am trying to make is don’t treat your customers(if you sell something on your blog) or your visitors like this. Treat them as if they were GOLD! The better the customer service you provide, the more sales and visit you will have back. Trust me.
January 4th, 2008 at 4:08 am
The main problems with a lot of business is that they outsource their customer service to private call centers. I know this because I too was desperate and needed a job and did a call center job for a couple of years. HATED IT, but anyway…
Non of the call center agents really give a shit about why you’re calling in, and most call centers are all about making you buy something you don’t want.
Most call centers have their agents on a tight leash. They want them to take your call and get you off ASAP! The more calls they take, the more money their client (In your case UPS) has to pay them.
They outsource because it’s easier to pay them than to pay their own employees I guess.
The way I see customer service these days is, it doesn’t exist anymore.
I have been only dealing with company web sites and e-mails, unfortunately they too are being outsourced to chat clients and e-mail CANNED responses.
The best thing to do in the future is walk into the store and speak to the person behind the counter.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I like dealing with corporate however. It is my last resort, but you can usually dig up a phone number for the headquarters and plead your case to the operator, who might transfer you.
With UPS I finally emailed them, I’ve talked to a bunch of people and will be posting their Phone Numbers on a site, someday.
Call Centers in the United States are much better than in places like India at least.
Tell me what companies your having issues with, I might be able to help, or at least use a few tactics to try. I am all for helping the underdogs against the evil corporates!
January 4th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
sometimes the reason why ppl patronize your product is if you have good customer support..
January 4th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Those end up being your best customers usually.