12 unforgivable mistakes in communicating business with a client

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Sometimes the support service does not solve problems, but only exacerbates them.

1. It is difficult to contact you

If a person has questions, he should be able to ask them easily. Placing contact details is not the time to get creative. The user wants to find them in a familiar place. For example, a chat window with a specialist is most often placed in the lower right corner, and the "Contacts" section - in the footer of the site.

Not seeing ways to contact you, a potential client may change his mind and leave for another place, and the person acting in the search process will get angry so that it will not seem like a little. Also, an evil post on social networks will write, and the company will be tagged. Do you need it?

2. You have few communication channels

Someone trusts only phone calls and communication with a person. Someone is ready to exclusively exchange messages in chats or social networks. Let's say your potential client is one of the second. He tries to contact you, finds only a phone number - and goes to competitors. It is necessary to offer something exclusive and very cool so that a person decides on actions unusual for him.

Therefore, it is better to provide for different communication options and respect the wishes of the client. You do not need to do a chat, only to find out the phone number from the interlocutor and call him back if he is clearly set up for correspondence.

3. You have a mess in communication channels

The site has three email addresses and it is not clear where to write. Each of the social networks has several groups, and it is not clear where to go. It is not easy to understand this and very few people want to. So get your contacts in order.

4. Your support has no human face

As a rule, people contact technical support with problems or questions, the answers to which they cannot find on their own. Sometimes they are angry or upset because your service did not live up to their expectations. In this case, bot-like employees who follow the duty script phrases are very annoying. Instead of real help, a lot of superfluous insincere words fall on the person.

It is much more pleasant to communicate with an employee who does not “regret what happened”, but sincerely asks for forgiveness and makes efforts to solve the problem. Moreover, the understanding that you are communicating with a living person often makes you slow down a little and calm down.

Of course, sincerity requires much more emotional involvement from a customer support employee than following scripts. That is why, contrary to stereotypes, no one can effectively work in such a position for three kopecks.

5. Support is very slow

Few people like to ask a question today and get an answer the day after tomorrow. Especially if the situation is critical. Efficiency is an extremely important criterion. If a client finds himself in a problem situation, you need to keep him informed about what you are doing to fix everything.

For example, the courier service lost the package. The client waited patiently for several days after the expiration of the delivery time, then turned to the chat and did not receive a response, wrote there again - with the same result, sent a message to Facebook. The content manager finally answered him: he said that he would find out the fate of the package, and disappeared for three days. After that, you can hardly count on reordering.

Therefore, it is important to respond promptly and tell the client the approximate time frame in which you will return with specifics, if you need time to get it.

6. You overuse bureaucratic language

Let's take article 149 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and try to read it.

The person who issued the security as well as the persons who provided security for the performance of the corresponding obligation are the persons responsible for the performance of the book-entry security. The persons responsible for the execution of a non-documentary security must be indicated in the decision on its issue or in another act provided by the law of the person who issued the security.

Article 149 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

Do you understand a lot the first time? This is how messages written in official language look like. When a technical support employee uses complex structures and a pile of incomprehensible words in messages, he looks no more knowledgeable and serious, but useless, because it is difficult to extract the necessary information from his message.

The choice of the language of communication largely depends on the industry and the circle of clients. But in any case, you should be closer to the people, after all, you have studied your target audience.

7. You make inappropriate assumptions

A common situation: your Internet stops working, you call support. And the first thing that you are persistently offered is to turn off and turn on your laptop, although you have already rebooted it and your router ten times, reinstalled Windows and danced with a tambourine. Enrages? And how! Especially if, after half an hour of crazy and meaningless negotiations, it turns out that there is no Internet due to a cut in the line.

You shouldn't think of your clients as fools, this makes it very easy to understand.

8. Cases have no message history

Of course, support staff are real people and cannot work around the clock. But if a chat specialist suddenly changes, it would be better for him to be able to clarify what was discussed earlier, and not ask the users again. Saying the problem again will only make the client more angry. It also takes up a lot of time, as the conversation tends to become more detailed in the process.

9. Technical support does not care about customers and the company

The client is always important, even if he is wrong. He came with his (probably created by you) problem, and it needs to be solved - without sarcasm and impoliteness, but with care. If a customer service employee doesn't like the company he works for, why should the client be loyal to it?

This is not at all about loud adoration and brainwashing by the corporate spirit. But it is always clear whether the manager considers himself part of the company or distances himself from it.

10. You do not analyze complaints

If customers are complaining about the same thing, it's much easier to solve the problem fundamentally than to fix it manually every time. In the end, everyone will be happy.

11. You have poorly automated the system

Automation is taking over the world, and bots are increasingly communicating with customers in tech support chats. They really help solve simple problems. But not everyone handles a trivial task. So there are a few things to keep in mind:

• The client should be able to switch to a person - not after he asks the same question 50 times in different versions or listens to an annoying melody, but on demand.
• The bot usually responds to some word or phrase and gives a standard answer. It is very bad when this happens in the middle of a dialogue with an employee, because after that there is practically no chance of getting the information you need.

12. You impose services on an angry customer

The person turned to support with some problem. If it has arisen, this is already a reason for dissatisfaction. It happens that a manager who has helped or, even worse, did not help to resolve the issue, immediately begins to bombard him with offers of additional services. Although the client is now clearly not at the peak of loyalty.

It is better to separate flies from cutlets so as not to cause unpleasant emotions.