5 Customer Service Lessons I Learned From Last Week’s Server Nightmare
February 15, 2009 by Deb
Filed under Customer Service
So unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know FWJ had some major server issues last week. I won’t rehash it all here, but you’re welcome to read about my emotional breakdown in detail if you’d like the backstory. It’s all good, though. I like to take some time after situations such as this and reflect a bit. Instead of seething in anger or crying for hours, I wonder how I can use what I learned to my benefit.
Here are a few lessons learned from last week’s server ordeal:
1. Every client is important - As a full time community manager at BlogTalkRadio, I talk with people all day. I learn about their experiences, whether good or bad, and do whatever I can to see that they’re getting the most from our service. Our users really don’t care about things like sales or traffic, they just want to know someone is listening when they have a problem.
I feel the key to good customer service is to treat each person as an individual and not a demographic. Instead of relying on a script, we need to be sincere. When I tell folks I’m happy to help or that they should always feel free to contact me with any questions, I mean it. My reward is knowing we have a happy community. Every now and then I get a rocking “thank you” note or referral and it doesn’t get any better than that.
2. Communication is essential - I’ve been doing the online thing for about a decade now. I think if I have to choose the one area that has given me the most frustration it’s communication. When we work in offices, surrounded by our team, we talk all day. We know what others are thinking and we know what’s going on in our business. When you have to deal with people virtually, you’re missing out on a lot of communication. Your customers and clients should always receive feedback, even if it’s not good. Poor communication and saving bad news until it’s too late to do anything about it doesn’t lead to many repeat customers or referrals.
3. A good team is worth its weight in gold – The Men with Pens team are the best (even if they kind of feel this blog is haunted). Every time there’s an issue they are there to answer questions and solve the problem. During Thursday’s emergency, they dropped everything to help. Not once did they make me feel small or stupid. Now, they may be cursing me under their breath, but I would never know it. The confidence I have in their service is worth every penny paid to them to keep this place running. Is it any wonder I continue to use them?
4. There’s no such thing as a silly question - Because I’m technically challenged, I often feel really dumb about asking questions, especially when I feel as if most folks already know the answer. My experience this week with my former host left me feeling inept and foolish, not a great feeling at all.
When people ask questions, it’s because they don’t know the answer. They’re seeking guidance from a person they trust to lead them in the right direction. When you contact technical support or any other kind of service center, you’re not doing it because your idea of a fun time is listening to hold music. Businesses need to understand every question is important and every person deserves to have concerns addressed in a respectful manner. For most of us, customer service or support is the only contact we have with a business. Why make a bad impression? Even worse, why make such a poor representation of your company?
5. Everything works out in the end. I was orginally going to write an angry post outing the company that gave me the poor customer service, but I thought better of it. No, I’m not happy and will never use them again however, I’m also not interested in reliving the experience and receiving negative traffic as a result of this. At the moment, we’re back to the original version of FWJ instead of our network of six blogs. It’s kind of tough explaining to advertisers what happened to their ads and why this all happened, but they’ve been surprisingly understanding. PLUS the amazing community here has totally rallied and made the best of the situation. FWJ is here, and it’s not going anywhere for a long time. What’s there to be angry about?
Image via Wikimedia Commons
Great post, Deb. Every better: great attitude about learning from an unpleasant experience.
Well, usually with some kind of massive breakdown or crisis, there is some kind of opportunity waiting within it. It doesn’t always emerge right away, but it is there. It seems you’ve already found some of that opportunity right now in crafting some timely and useful posts for our benefit (and yours).
Hopefully we will see more fruits of this crisis/opportunity in the coming months. whatever it is, you will make your community one of the very best around. You have staying power, Deb!
Sorry, I didn’t write that correctly – didn’t reread before I hit “submit comment”. I know your community is already one of the best around. It will stay that, or become even better. I don’t forsee any kind of disintegration just because a server company didn’t want to play nice.
Kudos, and keep your eyes looking ahead!
Honestly, I’m sick and tired of poor customer service and companies who hide behind “company policy” as a reason not to deal with customers as individuals. I’m shedding those businesses, seeking out those with good customer service, and spending my hard-earned money with them.
I also don’t believe in allowing companies get away with poor service, especially in cases where they break the law, which is why, when appropriate, I get the BBB and the appropriate Attorney Generals’ offices involved. It works, and it helps protect other consumers in the future.
I totally sympathize with your desire to take positive lessons away from this experience. But I also want to know the name of the company! I’d really like to be able to avoid them instead of repeating this character-building experience on my own.
My mom was in customer service for years. One thing I learned early one, people are always willing to broadcast a horrible experience, I do frequently myself. Few will take the time to share a good experience. It’s a habit for me to praise a company that does something right.
I did this a few weeks ago with a local grocery store. I called headquarters with kudos for one of the employees. The manager of that location called me a day later saying that in the five years he has been with that store, that’s the first time headquarters has called him with praise and not a complaint. ONE word of praise in five years. That’s really quite sad.
I am the first one to “black list” a company if I don’t receive good customer service and I won’t return to a restaurant or store if the customer service is poor. However, I agree with Anne. You also need to tell people when they are doing a good job, which I’ve done before. I worked in the thankless world of non-profit and there were very few times I was praised. When I was praised and appreciated for my hard work, it made the crappy long hours and bad pay worth it (well almost ha!) When you work in non-profit (and especially working with cancer patients and CF patients) and dealing with the public and volunteers, it’s all about customer service. It comes down to people want to be treated with respect – treat others like you want to be treated.
We are really quick to out someone for bad customer service, but we also need to think about the good customer service we do receive.
I’ve never been to this site before, but I like it. I agree with Anne and T. If I have a bad experience somewhere, everyone is going to hear about it the next day. We shouldn’t forget to compliment someone on a job well done. One day, at a fast food restaurant I frequent for lunch, I told the manager that I thought her crew was fast, courteous and just good all around. She gave me a free lunch!
@T – I hear you on thankless jobs. After high school, I landed a job with an area travel agency and spent five years with them. I have personally been blamed for flight delays, airlines suddenly raising rates, poor service from airline attendants, lost baggage and hotels booking the wrong type of room. My favorite though is the one guy who wanted to go to Kokomo because of the Beach Boys’ song. When I explained it was fictional and that Kokomo is in Indiana, he got right into my face telling me that if the Beach Boys said it was a tropical location then I needed to consult better maps and learn a little more about geography.
People can be pretty scary.