It will, however, make you a better customer service provider, and it will make you safer, and help reduce stress from difficult customer situations.
You’ve probably seen those commercials for the cough syrup brand that tastes so bad? It’s a fun ad campaign and its memorable. One remembers the simple fact that the cough syrup works. This book is like that. Tastes sort of bad. Works great.
In a short customer review of the first edition of this book, a reviewer indicated he thought the book was deadly dull. Authors don’t like that. I didn’t like it. Then I was asked to write the second edition of this book – the one you hold in your hand. Now I had to read the original book, and darned if I had to agree. It’s boring!
The other thing I noticed, (and this was reflected in other more detailed reader reviews) was that the content is really really good. Ok. I’m biased, but seriously, there is much in this book you won’t find elsewhere. The examples are thorough and clear. The explanations are straightforward. It’s been six years since the original book, and there wasn’t a single technique or customer service strategy that could be removed. The practical hands on guidance on what to say when is still way ahead of anything else out there on the market.
Only it’s still boring. Yes, a fair amount of the text was edited and improved, but here’s the thing. Yes, we added a new section on social media, and it’s wee bit less boring. Not quite the potboiler, though. Never will be.
This book isn’t meant to be read like a novel. It’s a reference book and a tutorial, and you can pick and choose the sections you want when you need them. As such there’s a fair amount of duplication to ensure you don’t need to read it from beginning to end to learn from it.
I’m so pleased to be writing this introduction to the second edition of this book since it means that enough people found the first edition useful enough to justify updating it. Since 2005 when the first edition of this book was published, many things have changed in the customer service arena. Many aspects of customer service remain the same. Good customer service is still good for business and the organization. Doing a good job providing customer service can still provide you with a great sense satisfaction and job enjoyment. The most compelling reason to learn about, and deliver good customer service is this: when you deliver good customer service to your customers, you experience less stress, and less hassle and grief from customers. They argue less. They’re much less likely to insult, and they’re less demanding. They don’t threaten you when they get upset (“I’ll have your job!”). You can save huge amounts of time. . Customer service skills still help you keep your happy customers happy, help prevent customers from becoming unhappy and taking out their frustrations on you,
So what about the changes? The biggest apparent change has been the emergence of social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn as “places” where millions of customers and potential customers “hang out” and share things. One of the things people can share much more easily now is their positive and negative experiences with companies. When things go wrong, they yell. When things go right they whisper. The implications of this behavior coupled with the apparent huge numbers (it’s actually a bit of an illusion) of people using these platforms has companies jumping on the bandwagon. Large companies like IBM, Ford, Dell, HP are “there” and many small or micro sized businesses are also experimenting (and usually failing) at the use of social media for customer service. Whether these changes are good or bad, there is no question that those involved in customer service need to UNDERSTAND the new media, so they can use them effectively, both at a strategic and tactical level (communicating with customers).
That brings us to the most significant changes in this edition. We will help you understand what social media can be used for and how it can be used for offering good customer service. Yes, we’ll offer you phrases to use, but we’ll explain to you how to strip away the hype from the truth so you won’t waste resources. You will understand not only what can be accomplished via social media, but also what cannot be accomplished. Bottom line: Intelligent effective use of social media, without wasted resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment