12 unforgivable mistakes in communicating business with a client
His Work / / January 07, 2021
1. It's hard to contact you
If a person has questions, he should be able to ask them easily. Placing contact details is not the case when you need to get creative. The user wants to find them in a familiar place. For example, a chat window with a specialist is most often placed in the lower right corner, and the "Contacts" section - in the footer of the site.
Not seeing ways to contact you, a potential client may change his mind and leave for another place, and the person acting in the search process will get angry so that it doesn't seem like a little. Also, an evil post on social networks will write, and the company will be tagged. Do you need it?
2. You have few communication channels
Someone trusts only phone calls and communication with a person. Someone is ready to exclusively exchange messages in chats or social networks. Let's say your potential client is from the second. He tries to contact you, finds only a phone number - and goes to competitors. It is necessary to offer something exclusive and very cool so that a person decides on actions unusual for him.
Therefore, it is better to provide for different communication options and respect the wishes of the client. You do not need to do a chat, just to find out the phone number from the interlocutor and call him back if he is clearly configured to correspond.
Reading nowš„
- 6 good business ideas without investment
3. You have a mess in communication channels
The site lists three email addresses and it is not clear where to write. Each of the social networks has several groups, and it is not clear where to go. It is not easy to understand this and very few people want to. So get your contacts in order.
4. Your support has no human face
As a rule, technical support is contacted by people with problems or questions, the answers to which cannot be found on their own. Sometimes they are angry or upset because your service did not live up to their expectations. In this case, bot-like employees who move according to duty phrases-scripts are very annoying. Instead of real help, a lot of unnecessary insincere words fall on the person.
It is much more pleasant to communicate with an employee who does not āregret what happenedā, but sincerely asks for forgiveness and makes efforts to solve the problem. Moreover, the understanding that you are communicating with a living person often makes you slow down a little and calm down.
Of course, sincerity requires much more emotional engagement from a customer support employee than following scripts. That is why, contrary to stereotypes, no one can effectively work in such a position for three kopecks.
5. Support is very slow
Few people like to ask a question today and get an answer the day after tomorrow. Especially if the situation is critical. Efficiency is an extremely important criterion. If a client finds himself in a problem situation, you need to keep him informed about what you are doing to fix everything.
For example, courier service lost the package. The client waited patiently for several days after the delivery time expired, then turned to chat and did not receive a response, wrote there again - with the same result, sent a message to Facebook. The content manager finally answered him: he said that he would find out the fate of the package, and disappeared for three days. After that, you can hardly count on reordering.
Therefore, it is important to respond promptly and tell the client the approximate time frame in which you will return with specifics if you need time to get it.
6. You overuse bureaucratic language
Let's take article 149 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and try to read it.
Article 149 of the Civil Code of the Russian FederationThe person responsible for the performance of the book-entry security is the person who issued a security, as well as persons who provided security for the execution of the corresponding obligations. The persons responsible for the execution of a non-documentary security must be indicated in the decision on its issue or in another act provided by the law of the person who issued the security.
Do you understand a lot the first time? Messages written in official language look something like this. When a technical support employee uses complex structures and a pile of incomprehensible words in messages, he looks no more knowledgeable and serious, but useless, because it is difficult to extract the necessary information from his message.
The choice of language of communication largely depends on the industry and the circle of clients. But in any case, you should be closer to the people, because you have studied your target audience.
7. You make inappropriate assumptions
A common situation: your Internet stops working, you call support. And the first thing that you are persistently offered is to turn off and turn on your laptop, although you have already rebooted it and your router ten times, reinstalled Windows and danced with a tambourine. Enrages? And how! Especially if, after half an hour of crazy and meaningless negotiations, it turns out that there is no Internet due to a cut in the line.
You shouldn't think of your clients as fools, this makes it very easy to understand.
8. Cases have no message history
Of course, support staff are real people and cannot work around the clock. But if a chat specialist suddenly changes, it would be better for him to be able to clarify what was discussed earlier, and not ask the users again. Saying the problem again will only make the client more angry. It also takes up a lot of time, as the conversation tends to become more detailed in the process.
9. Technical support doesn't care about customers and the company
The client is always important, even if he is wrong. He came with his (probably created by you) problem, and it needs to be solved - without sarcasm and impoliteness, but with care. If a customer service employee doesn't like the company he works for, why should the client be loyal to it?
This is not at all about loud adoration and brainwashing by the corporate spirit. But it is always clear whether the manager considers himself a part of the company or distances himself from it.
10. You do not analyze complaints
If customers are complaining about the same thing, it's much easier to solve the problem fundamentally than to fix it manually every time. In the end, everyone will be happy.
11. You have not automated the system well
Automation is taking over the world, and bots are increasingly communicating with customers in tech support chats. They really help solve simple problems. But not everyone handles a trivial task. So there are a few things to consider:
- The client should be able to switch to a person - not after he asks the same question 50 times in different versions or listens to an annoying melody, but on demand.
- The bot usually reacts to some word or phrase and gives a standard answer. It is very bad when this happens in the middle of a dialogue with an employee, because after that there is practically no chance of getting the necessary information.
12. You impose services on an angry customer
The person turned to support with a problem. If it has arisen, this is already a reason for dissatisfaction. It happens that a manager who has helped or, even worse, did not help resolve the issue, immediately begins to bombard him with offers of additional services. Although the client is clearly not at the peak of loyalty right now.
It is better to separate flies from cutlets so as not to cause unpleasant emotions.
Read alsoš§
- How to successfully implement a CRM system in your business
- Personal experience: how we returned a dissatisfied client
- 12 real-life examples of how you should and shouldn't work with customer comments