How To Look Stupid To Customers In One Sentence

It takes only one sentence to look stupid in front of clients. Along with it is poor customer service that can ruin the day of any client.

It pains me to say this but excellent customer service is still a rare occurrence in spite of all the hype it has gained. I’m bewildered at how customer representatives conduct themselves in front of customers. Worse, they don’t even know that their behavior is utterly gruesome. Here are some horrid encounters that will surely make any customer representative look stupid.

Erwin, a colleague of mine asked a store representative about a product on the shelf. It was a portable vacuum with a car and wall charger. All he wanted to know was the warranty of the product. To his surprise, the customer representative irritatingly uttered “I don’t know” with a perplexed and dismayed look. To make matters worse, the representative walked away shaking his head as if my friend asked something ridiculous. It was an unwarranted and callous behavior.

It took so much self-restrain not to throw the vacuum cleaner at the representative to know if it was also shockproof.

Sure no one has all the answers. But a basic question such as this is something he should have known. Even if he did not have the right response, he should have referred the client to someone who is more knowledgeable.

The sentence “I’m new here” is another gravely misused response to client queries. It’s so easy to say these words especially when you do not know the answer. But remember that once you represent the company, clients do not really care if you just started or if you’re a veteran in the business. Customers simply want proper service. As a new employee it is your responsibility to know.

Being new is not an excuse. Moreover, it should never be used to justify ignorance.

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I had an encounter with a customer service representative in a small computer store. I was looking for the right video card for my desktop computer. Since I love playing Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Crusader and other similar video games, I had to upgrade up my system for the best gaming experience. But when I approached the store’s “technical expert” to ask about the video graphics card he started reading from the box!

Hey, dude, I can also read! I’ve been doing that even before I graduated from kindergarten. What I needed was his expert opinion based on my gaming needs. Unfortunately, the term “technical expert” did not come with actual expertise.

To provide excellent customer service, representatives need to learn their products. In fact, team leaders and supervisors should drill their sales staff in all their products. Otherwise, clients will consistently have a dismal experience.

In retrospect

Being a customer service representative means walking the extra mile to learn about the business, the products or service and of course about customers. Offering excellent customer service requires that the sales professional learns and masters the basics first. When customer representatives fail to give even the basic service, expect to get dissatisfied clients.