I’m right in the middle of a huge writing project, which I can’t tell you about for now. I’m also embroiled in one of the longest ever examples of appalling customer service. Given that I’m spending more time typing than gardening, I hope all my green-fingered readers will indulge me for a moment while I talk about writing.
Writers are clever, talented people (and I’m not just saying that because I am one!) but they come from different backgrounds and all walks of life. My career before I became a writer was focused on Customer Service in various guises. I’ve tackled business-to-business customer service, business-to-consumer customer service (including the kind where you’re stuck behind the customer service desk and have to take everything that comes with that) and even the kind of role where you’re trying to deliver to customers within the same company.
If you’ve come to writing from a different background, then let me let you in on a little secret. There are two golden rules in customer service, and neither of them is ‘The Customer Is Always Right’.
Rule 1: Deliver what you’ve promised
Once you have given your customer an expectation, deliver what you’ve promised. It doesn’t matter whether you sell products, services, or words – deliver what you’ve promised. Deliver the right number of words, of the right quality, by the agreed deadline. Simple.
Trust me when I say that if you have the common problem of constantly over-promising and under-delivering then it’s a problem you won’t have for long. Your customers will run out of patience – quality and talent aren’t enough to keep them coming back.
Rule 2: Communicate
This one should be easy for writers – they’re good with words, right? Occasionally (and it had better be occasionally) you will come across a problem that prevents you from following rule 1 and delivering what you’ve promised.
As soon as you suspect there might be a problem, communicate with your customer. You may well be convinced you can solve it without them ever having to know – but if you don’t there will be trouble. A customer contacting you to tell you there’s a problem is an unhappy customer. A customer who is aware that there was an issue, which was resolved before it became a problem, is not unhappy. A customer who is aware that there is a problem, but that you’re pulling out all the stops to fix it, will generally withhold judgment until you’re done.
I was once told to think of customer service in terms of a ticking clock, but I think a swing-o-meter is a better analogy. Whenever you fail to deliver, or fail to communicate with a customer, your swing-o-meter swings further into the Dissatisfaction section. If it swings too far then the relationship is unrecoverable and you’ve lost a client.
Never underestimate the value of good customer relations. Even if you think this is a one-off piece of work, you never know where a happy customer will sing your praises. But you do know where an unhappy customer will gripe about you – everywhere they go.
© Copyright Emma Cooper, 2008. All rights reserved.