Excellent customer service isn’t what it used to be.
It’s not at all like what your parents or grandparents were probably used to receiving; it’s not even what I experienced growing up as a millennial.
Modern customer service isn’t something only provided when you call or go into a business. Now, customer service needs to be internet-wide.
In addition to being expected to be present on an ever-growing number of social media networks simply so that you can be found when someone does go looking for you, you also have to expect that they won’t go looking for you online.
Instead, they’ll complain to no one, not tagging your company or tagging it incorrectly, and then proceed to get even angrier when you don’t respond to the complaint you didn’t know they had.
No matter how silly the complaint may seem, or minor, or how petty, you need to address and resolve the issues your customers feel that they have. While they may not seem like much to you, the customer feels that these are a Big Deal, and you should respect that part of the interaction online or on social media.
The one interaction that trips up the most companies — even the big guys — is the one that no customer service training really covers quite thoroughly enough.
What Do You Do When the Customer Is Very Clearly Wrong?
When you’re not big enough to simply give away everything to make customers happy, you get stuck in a tricky situation.
Or, perhaps there’s another reason — if you keep giving customers free replacements, perhaps there’s a risk to either the customer or to their products if they’re messing something up.
Either way, you can’t afford to simply let the customer think they’re right. You have to, somehow, get the customer to admit that they’re wrong — and then help them fix the situation.
This is, as you can imagine, monumentally difficult.
I learned about this while working for LLLReptile & Supply Co, Inc, one of the biggest reptile companies in the US.
You Think You Got Customer Service Problems?
Try telling someone the reason that expensive new animal they got died because they didn’t listen to you. Or that the baby lizard or tortoise they’ve been raising for months is “shaped funny” because it’s severely deficient in calcium.
At least when you troubleshoot a computer, the worst thing that happens if you don’t ask the right question is that you have to repeat the troubleshooting process. With live animals, if you don’t ask the right question, something dies.
Naturally, this is a thing we want to avoid.
So with that in mind, let me explain the number one way to have every social media or customer service interaction end with the customer happy that you’re telling them how much they screwed up.
It’s amazing, it really is.
The “secret”?
Rule Number 1 to Excellent Customer Service — Never Be the One to Say It’s Their Fault When It Very Clearly Is
This doesn’t mean you just bend over for every complaint.
What it does mean is rather than saying “Sir, your pet died because you screwed up every possible aspect of its care,” you ask questions. Lots of little, leading questions.
Normally, this works best when your publicly viewable questions are phrased in a way that doesn’t blast the customer as being an idiot. They need to subtly lead the customer to realizing they’ve admitted that they’re at fault.
This is the key to excellent customer service.
What you’ll want to do is ask small, no-fault questions that lead to a situation you can resolve.
For example — “The snake/lizard/animal you sold me died after just one week! I want a refund!”
What this person absolutely does not want to hear is that the live animal guarantee is only for 3 days because that’s typically about how long it takes for their poor care to cause problems.
What they also absolutely do not want to hear (or tell you) is the long list of things that they did wrong that led to their new pet dying.
So how do you handle the customer who is convinced all of their problems are a result of something your company did — intentionally, or unintentionally?
Start from the beginning. That’s textbook excellent customer service, for one, and two, it lets you learn as much as possible.
Maybe the Customer Didn’t Screw up — You Won’t Know Unless You Start at the Beginning
Ask where they learned about caring for the animal. Or, for your business, something about how they learned to use, set up, or otherwise interact with whatever it is you sell. Usually, they either didn’t look up anything, or they looked up information that was outdated, incomplete, or entirely incorrect.
Your brother’s best friend’s ex wife is not usually a great resource on exotic pet care. She’s also probably not nearly as experienced as you or your employees are with your own products. This is a good point to make, but you want to be subtle about it.
That’s the real key to excellent customer service — subtly leading the customer precisely where you need them to go.
You do this by mentioning that your website has all the information they needed. Care sheet, complete with links to the necessary products, and look at that — you’re even an active member on the biggest forum about that exact topic. It’s almost like they could have come to you at any time to ask for help!
Don’t actually say that.
What works well is suggesting your information (care sheet, blog post, etc) and then providing a link, casually dropping in that if they follow this information, they won’t have the problem they’re currently experiencing again.
Ask how the animal (product) looked once they got it out of the box. It arrived in great shape, and was well packaged? Oh good, we sent it out to you as healthy and beautiful as could be.
Did it poop? If it pooped, obviously it was eating.
Find similar types of questions that show that whatever your company sent out was working or in good shape before the customer touched it. Again, don’t explicitly say “we sent it out just fine”, but drop things in casually.
“Oh, it pooped all over you when you took it out of the shipping container? Sorry, we obviously were feeding it well when it was with us!”
What This Does Is Help Set up the Baseline: What You Sent Out, or Created, or Sold, Was Perfect the Last Time You Touched It
So where did everything go wrong?
At this point, what often happens is that others pile on to the conversation, especially if it’s over social media or on a forum. This is where you become a shining beacon of excellent customer service — hold the customer’s hand through figuring out where exactly they screwed up, without ever explicitly saying “gee, maybe you should have called us before getting to that point.”
Depending on your business’ situation, others in the niche with more experience may pile on to the conversation, either with negativity or positive help.
You’ll want to remain a positive, helpful beacon among any mudslinging, or remain a positive member of the community if the additional comments are positive. Usually, by the time others pile on, the customer is more than happy to take the conversation to a less publicly viewable place — email, phone, or direct messages.
And that’s your goal! Your business looks great, they look like a regular person who made a mistake, everyone’s happy.
No accusing, no anger, they save face, and you get lots of positive brand recognition from the exchange.
And, Once You Get Good at This, the Customer Is Usually Happy to Learn How to Prevent Something Like That from Happening Again
Even if you’re lousy — usually, people are happy to learn how to not screw things up. As long as you don’t make them feel attacked or stupid, your customers will be very grateful to learn what they should be doing.
The goal for your interactions should always be to have the customer leave happy about having talked to your company.
This might be the mantra your now totally excellent customer service team is supposed to chant, but often, this part gets lost when dealing with a customer in the wrong. The goal becomes simply to minimize damage.
The focus of this “secret” shouldn’t be on pointing the finger back at the customer, letting them feel lousy for screwing up.
The Goal at the End of the Interaction Should Be That the Customer Has Recognized They Screwed up — but Also That You Were There to Help Them.
To be fair, this doesn’t work exactly this way in every single case, but it works often enough for enough different businesses that it’s worth reviewing for your own.
Don’t tell the customer it’s their fault — that’s about as far from excellent customer service as you can get.
Instead, show them.
And when you can manage to have the interaction end with them smiling, you’ll gain far more referrals and brand recognition than by simply deleting or ignoring negative comments and complaints.
Intrigued by just what reptiles have to do with social media marketing? Check out Jen’s blog, as well as her various social media accounts — @TyrannosaurJen on Twitter, on LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Facebook!
Curious about the name? Learn more about why her agency is called Tyrannosaurus Marketing here.
