How far do you take your Customer Service?

Hi Michael:

Great for you! I can't tell you how many times even before I wanted to purchase a product there would be an email address and I would write a question and not get a response. You could imagine what would happen after the sale.

A myriad of products have contact information as well and when you write or call after the sale you either don't get a response or a pre-fabed reply.

I have always made it a point to stay in contact with the customer. At least I'm showing appreciation for the purchase before and after.

Keep up the tremendous work!

Michael,

What a great thread! I know for a fact that SOME IM'ers do what they do because they don't like dealing with people. If they had to actually deal directly with people, they would go crazy! The fact is, though, those that go the extra mile will not only make more money, they will develop deeper relationships with their customers which will lead to more sales, referrals, and occassionally, friendships...yes, it does happen.

Personally, one thing that I have done to try to provide a deeper level of customer service to my clients is to provide an easy to understand organized form for their orders. I used to rely on back and forth emails to lock in an order, but now, they fill out a form, know what the order will cost them, and I simply have to reply with a turnaround time as well as a recipt confirmation of their order info. In addition, I offer communication via email, google chat, skype, OR cell phone if they wish. My clients needs are real and I think it is important for them to know they are dealing with a real person. I Recently got a large order from a repeat client and after going through the emails, I thought the best decision was for us to talk. We locked in a time, and spent about 20 minutes on the phone. now, I feel like I better understand his overall goals, and he knows a little more about my skill sets and how I can help him reach his goals.

Customer service is a dying art just about everywhere you look...let's heed the example set by Michael and bring it back...our businesses will reap the benefits as will our incredibly valuable clients...

Mac the Knife

I try to carbon copy Sam Stephens (DL Guard)

Sam has been and remains my #1 product provider of all time. I bought DLG a couple of years ago (maybe even 3 or 4 years ago) and each time I send him an email for help he ALWAYS responds and resolves the issue...even when the issue is my stupidity (yeah the customer!) or my tech person and I are stuck and need help

I take mine as far as it needs to go.

Hi, glad to see that you go that extra mile for your customers..I always communicate with my customers via skype, coz its the best way to keep them happy and up to date.

Michael,

I think your customers must be thankful and satisfied for the after-sales-
service that you have made to them.

I think many marketers make a serious mistake by not practicing this.
In my opinion, being a successful salesperson by profession, no matter
how good your products are, if you don't follow up with your customers
after selling them, you won't win their hearts or their trust worthy.

Don't take it for granted that your customers could 100% understand your
products and could apply it straight away. Somewhat to a certain extend,
I believe they might need some guidance or explanation on your products.

Recently I encountered a ''No-After-Sales-Service'' problem. I was totally
frustrated and upset by that marketer's efficiency. After subscribing to his
program (so called "YOUCHANDOIT-THE INTERNET BLUEPRINT HOME
COURSE''), which should come with a few Tutorial DVDs. Then and I
waited for his delivery.

After waited for a week, I did not receive the stuff and no follow up
action has been carried out. Then I sent him an email and he replied and
promised to expedite the delivery.

Then after, I waited for another week again. But at the end, I still did not
receive the stuff and no follow up action has been carried out. Then I
sent him another email and he replied and Showed me a mail slip which
proved that he's already delivered the stuff thru a normal snail mail.

Up to today, after a month time I still did not receive it. I think the stuff
must have lost on the way of delivery.

I was so frustrated to an extend, so I sent him the 3rd email to ask for a
refund. And you know what he told me? He told me to wait for another
14 days for his account department's approval.

This is totally despising the consumers' RIGHT and of NO BUSINESS
ETHICS.

Finally, I urge those newbies to make sure of these services before signing
up any programs. Learn from my bad experience.


KelvinLoo
salesispeanut






Steve[/quote]

I provide personal customer service and most of the time I answer support tickets from members and emails from customers / possible customers within minutes. I personally handle all my own customer service and do not let my staff answer any support tickets or emails.

I take the time to explain and help if needed, many I have went way beyond which many warriors here can testify to.

I think customer service is the most important part of any business and the faster you reply the better.

James

In the UK, when you email one of the biggest energy suppliers, you get an autoresponse to say that they'll respond within 5 working days.

Geez, that was very annoying when it happened to me - but it didn't make me leave them - I was only interested in the price of their gas and electricity.

That sort of service sucks from a customer view point but it looks like there are some businesses where they can spend less on customer service and still massively grow the business.

Maybe they figure that by the time the 5 days has passed, the issue has become a non-issue, and they retain the customer in the same was as they would have done if they had responded instantly. Who knows?

It's a strange old world.

Cheers,

Neil

This is a small example of what I think of as "good customer service" that I offer. Unlike many of you here (I think?) I sell a physical product rather than a service. After each order, large or small (and some of them are very small!) I send a thank you to the customer, also asking them if their address (taken from paypal, usually) is the most convenient delivery address for them.

Note, for what it's worth - since this is an email I'm sending, and not encrypted, I never copy their whole address. I say something like, "I'll send to your Johnson Road address unless there's someplace more convenient for you".

Anyway - the part that differs from some internet vendors, I think, is that some vendors get a sale, send the product out within a normal time frame for that product, and that's it - end of story. I think 80% of my customers have made comment to me, after getting my email (or after getting the product), that "communication was great", or "thanks for doublechecking" or some such.

The email takes me 30 seconds (I'm a fast typist, and it's rote by now). It's a personal touch and even if I never get a response, or no dialog develops, it's worth sending. But in a lot of cases, a dialog *does* develop - and that often turns into repeat sales. A win-win for a very easy bit of customer service business.

I just got an PM from Bayo re. this thread, so thought I'd offer my two cents

I used to do sales support for a company in Sydney, and most of it was on-site stuff, so I'd be out in the car, driving around all day, visting clients, and generally making them happy.

There's a lot of different people out there, and you need to handle each one as an individual - some people like to keep things professional, yet friendly. Some people like to "have a chat", almost. Some people like to joke around, other's don't. Some people like to abuse you and use you like their own personal stress ball, and squeeze the life out of you.

I'm a big believer in handling each type of person in the way they handle me (except for the grumpy ones).


If a person keeps things formal, reply formal, yet friendly.

If a person is chatty, be chatty back.

If a person likes to joke, join in.

Keep in mind through all of this, though, you still need to deliver support - that's your main aim. Fix their problem, answer their questions. The style in which you do it does differ, though.

For grumpy people, it depends on their level of grumpiness, where on the Rage Scale they sit.

Usually I tend to use the formal reply. Keep it professional, don't mention their insane outbursts at all. Pretend they're a normal, well adjusted human being.

In a lot of cases, they are just that - normal people just having a bad day. You may even find you get apologies.

Of course I also don't believe in bending over and grabbing your ankles for a customer. I sell my product for $127. It'll take a LOT more than $127 to buy my self respect.

Don't let any customers walk over you, no one has that right, no matter how much money they gave you.

I once have a customer who sent me increasingly angry emails every 10 minutes or so, demanding to know why I hadn't yet replied, after all, it had been half an hour since their first email.

I woke up to about seven or eight of these emails, the last few were taking personal stabs at me.

So I replied "If you need a hand, I'm more than happy to help. If you'd like to abuse me, then I'm more than happy to offer you a refund."

I got an apology, and he calmed down, and we worked out whatever it was that he needed at the time.


This post is turning into a lot more than 2 cents, but basically my theory is this: treat a customer in the same method they treat you (whether than be formal, chatty, jokey, etc.).

Customer support is not about answering questions, it's about relating to people.

cheers
Sam

That's a really interesting idea, Michael!

I just hope your phone call costs don't put you in the red

Being in Australia I can't really do follow up phone calls at decent hours (and for decent costs), but it's great you've had some good feedback.

Especially in the internet marketing world, people don't buy from websites, they buy from the PEOPLE behind the websites.

As you already know, if you offer your customers a great buying experience and backup support, they'll continue to support you as they already know that buying from you is "safe".

cheers
Sam

I definitely think that follow-through is important. One thing that I like to do is send out surveys through surveymonkey.com. It can be anonymous, you're not disturbing anyone at dinnertime, and you'll get some pretty honest feedback.

Phone calls are always great, if you have the time and resources!

for most (not all but most) of our products, we call every single buyer.

"i'm calling from .... to check that your order arrived safe and undamaged"
"i'm calling from .... to check that your download went ok and you've been able to access the file with no problems"
"i'm calling from .... because i notice you've placed an unusually large order - first i wondered what's going on in your business that caused you to order 4 copies of the same book, and secondly i wondered if you'd like a discount or a free book by way of a thank you"

90% are stunned that we bothered to call, and 70% are up for a short chat about their purchase and what's going on in their life that motivated the purchase.

sometimes we get excellent opportunities to offer a special service... TODAY, one of my team emailed me this note:

Hi,

******** has incorrectly purchased ******* using the International shopping cart link not the local shopping cart link, he paid $23 dollars and should have been $16.95. I have rung him and cleaned this up with him. He knew it was the wrong amount and was very happy that we called. he is now definitely friendly. I refunded his $23 and charged him the correct $16.95

Regards,
Bryce

Of course we will also call the customer in a week to ensure the goods arrived safely.

we started this policy, becase we thought it was the right thing to do. and consistently, this approach increases our total online sales for the month. a $7 ebook becomes a $27 package sale. a $36 book sale becomes a $100 DVD sale. a $27 download becomes a $12k offline consulting project. etc etc.

scalable? sure is. the "self-propelled upsells" (the customer simply volunteering to buy more on the call) generate far more sales than the labour and call costs to make the calls. might not work for your products, but it works just great for mine.

relationships improve. integrity improves. referrals improve. reference quotes & stories improve... sales improve. profits improve.

i encourage you to try it - it might not apply to your business...
... but then again it might.

That is really a good customer service. You build relationships to your customers and that is a very positive one. Not all business men do that, once their product was already purchased and got their money, then they stop from there. You can't see a handful of business men who have the attitude as yours. Good Job!

Michael

I have to say the biggest complaint i get from clients and customers about the IM world in general is lack of support. Now this is a generalization obviously but I think maybe non im'ers who maybe are used to customer support in other walks of life maybe expect a little more.

That said I think there is a fine line here between "being there" for your customers and actually hassling them. Personally if I get a query I try to make sure they get a reply in 24 hrs. I recently hired an outsourcer to do just this and anything she can't answer she then refers on to me. This has made a huge difference in terms of giving me more free time and not having to answer download queries etc