10 tips to Ensuring Problems are replaced with Solutions for a Great Customer Experience!

Excellent Customer Experience relies on a smooth and easy purchase experience for the customer. 

At the start of the new academic year, I was reminded of this as I did customer service training to hair and beauty learners followed by a recruitment meeting with staff which was full of solutions! Loved it.

It reminded me that there is a solution to everything - apart from tax and death - and we just need to find it.

So here are my top tips to solutions as we support our new learners / customers as we work to give them an amazing customer journey and hope we retain them for a few years in that journey.

1 - A customer does not need to know that your computer is not working, they would prefer for you to take their number and ring them back when it is working. 

2 - A customer should not be told not to put the forms there that they have brought in, you need to take them from them and sort them out.

3 - A customer does not need to have to walk to the specials board and try to remember the meals for the other members of the party, the special board should come to the table! And a customer should have staff come to them. Same with directing someone to another location.... walk with them so they don't have to remember your directions and get lost!

4 - A customer should not have to ring back in a few weeks to check if an order has come in because they were told it was out of stock. You should apologise and let them know that the item should be in the shop by x date and let them know that you will ring them to let them know it has arrived. 

5 - A customer should not have to follow up on an order that was confirmed and then told what was confirmed could not happen. Or have to travel back to you to find out that the order is no longer available! Communication and creating a smooth process is key!

6 - A customer should not be told that the organisation cannot do that for them or that what they have asked for will not work. The customer should instead be told that the organisation will work something out and will ring back by a certain date. 

7 - A customer should not be told that you don't know the answer to that question. You should instead tell them that you need to check the answer to their question and that you will ring them back with the answer. 

8 - A customer should not be told no. In the customer service training I did this week, I asked the learners.... "who likes to be told 'No'"? Unsurprisingly, no-one put their hand up! So why we would say no to a customer? You should in fact tell them that you will check and see if that is possible and get back to them. If this outcome is not positive, give them another solution. Don't end your interaction with a negative!

9 - A customer should be told Yes and you then need to work out how to do it. Trust me, most things are possible!

10 - Finally, listen to the customer. You can ensure the best customer experience just by active listening. This allows you to ensure you create the right solution every time and don't waste your time, but most importantly the customers time!