What Does the Bible Say?

Customer Service Tip – Tell the Customer What You Are Going to Do – The Next Step

Let’s face it; we have all had bad customer service experiences. Like me, I bet you can recall the details of every instance of bad service. If you are like most people, you probably told anyone who would listen about your dreadful experience.

The average customer will tell many people of a bad experience. That’s the type of word of mouth advertising we do not want.

One way to avoid painful misunderstandings is to tell the customer what you are going to do. Make sure they understand the next steps in the process.

Here’s a checklist to help:

1. Recap expectations and follow-up items in a summary form.
2. Ask the customer if your understanding is correct.
3. Tell them your name and that you are the person responsible for resolving the issue.
4. Tell the customer any requirements they have. Examples would be:
   1. What paperwork or documentation do they need to provide?
   2. What format is the paperwork or documentation? Electronic or paper?
   3. When is the paperwork or documentation due?
   4. Contact information if they need help, have questions, or need an extension?
5. Tell them what to expect from you.
   1. How will you acknowledge receipt of the paperwork or documentation?
   2. How long will it take to process?
   3. What you they expect to receive from you and when?
   4. How is resolution notification handled? The is a great touch point for a courtesy contact of the customer.
   5. Contact information if they have questions or if they feel you are too slow and need a status update.

Having a road map to help the customer understand the next steps is an excellent way to create goodwill. The client has confidence when they have an understanding of the process. Knowing by name a contact person who handles managing their issue is a core ingredient to world-class customer service. You can provide this point of touch even if the follow-up work is someone else’s. The name you give is the one managing the incident or case.

Follow through on all promises. A great plan requires execution. Failure to follow through will lose all the great service and goodwill you work so hard to create.

Customer Service Tip – Tell the Customer What You Are Going to Do – The Next Step

Jimmie Aaron Kepler’s work has appeared in six different Lifeway Christian publications as well as The Baptist Program, Thinking About Suicide.com, Poetry & Prose Magazine, vox poetica, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Bewildering Stories, Beyond Imagination Literary Magazine and more. His short story stories The Cup, Invasion of the Prairie Dogs, Miracle at the Gibson Farm: A Christmas Story, and The Paintings as well as Gone Electric: A Poetry Collection are available on Amazon.com.