The importance of customer service

According to wikipedia, customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase, "designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”

Despite our agreement in the significance of customer service, bad customer service experience is unfortunately, a common phenomenon. To help businesses out with delivering the ultimate in customer service, I have pulled together a what to do, and what not do list. Read on for details.

Do:

• Be honest... treat customers like how you like to be treated. Curtail yourself from offering them unnecessary products and services. Customers will appreciate it.
  
  
• Be consistent... especially with product offers, price points, etc. Otherwise, it comes across as fishy. I once was charged more for a hotel stay than the quoted price with a major hotel chain for no apparent reason.
  
  
• Know your stuff... One word, train, train, train. if I know more about your products or services, there is something wrong here.
  
  
• Communicate with your staff, especially on agreements reached with customers. Lack of communication will only result in disgruntlement in front of the customers, which is a major no-no, not to mention unprofessional. That was my sour experience last week at a hair salon.
  
  
• Be fair... the customers with remember it. I returned a pair of unworn shoes to Aerosoles from two years ago, and got store credit for it. Although I am not advocating to do that, you bet that I will be shopping there in the future.
  
  
• Apologize to the customers if need be, they will remember it.
  
  
• Be professional. Remember you are there as an ambassador from the company. I always enjoyed shopping at Ann Taylor for that reason.
  
  

Don't:

• Converse with other staff in a foreign language in front of the customers. That's just tacky. What's even worse is when you guys are talking about the customer, and the customer understands what you are saying.
  
  
• Follow the customers out the store, unless they forgot their stuff. I heard about waiters chasing after customers for lack of tip.
  
  
• Accuse the customers of lying. I once returned an item without a receipt. The store manager pulled me aside to ask me if I stole the item, and was returning it to get the cash. I know. Crazy stuff.
  
  
• Make sure that your product is ready and available before you offer it to the customers. My girlfriends once checked into a room that was occupied by three topless men.
  
  
• Waste the customers' time with long, arduous customer service lines. I once missed my connection for that reason. To add insult to the injury, the customer service staff offered me a $15 food voucher as a compensation for the 6 hour delay. You bet I wrote a letter to the airline about this incident.