Service: The Guardian of Your Reputation

The phone is ringing – how will your company answer?

A customer has a complaint and they’re calling to see what we're going to do about it. This is an opportunity. Are we going to give the same great service that we did before we had their money? Are we going to show up and stand behind what we promised in the first place? This is a test, another step in the journey of the Customer’s Experience of our company.

Handle it wrong and you've turned a satisfied customer into an unhappy customer. Unhappy customers complain about your business – to their friends and family; and on the internet, for the whole world to see. Handle it right and a service opportunity often turns into selling more work to the same customer, or even a referral. Just like a new lead, you have an opportunity.

In a previous entry we talked about turning Service into a Profit Center by envisioning and creating an Annual Maintenance Program to promote Lifetime Customer Ownership. That’s a proactive approach. This article is about Responsive Service calls.

Fix it Fast. Fix it Today.

Get someone out there as quickly as possible and fix the problem right away – the right way.

You can’t fix a problem with good intentions alone, that means your Service Technician needs to do the work right. The customer is watching how you handle the situation with a microscope. If you don’t get it right, tension goes up pretty quickly.

The customer – and your company – want a quick and satisfying resolution, so if the service was scheduled for today, it gets fixed today. That means if the guy you have out there doesn’t know how to fix the problem they encounter, send someone who can to help him.

You don’t want a case where the customer sits at the dinner table that night and talks about their disappointment:

“Yes, they did come, honey. But the guy they sent here was confused and couldn’t figure it out. He left and said that the office would call tomorrow to try to set another appointment.”

“Well why did they send someone who doesn’t know what they are doing? We paid a lot of money and we have to have the problem fixed!”

You aren’t going to get referrals that way.

Handle it right and there might be a very different conversation around the dinner table:

“Did they come to fix the problem today honey?”

“Yes, they did. The guy checked it out and came back later with another guy, but it’s all fixed!”

“Great. I knew they were a good company!”

Your reputation is protected.

The day’s work is not done unless all the service calls scheduled are completed and each customer is happy. What are you doing to guard your reputation?

See you soon.