Reading the title of this post, you’re probably thinking, “Duh! Who wouldn’t follow up?” Amazingly, some people decide not to, showing a gap in their customer service skills. Several recent incidents point out the need for a brief refresher on how to provide good customer service.
The topic of customer service could fill volumes. I’ll restrict myself to a handful of paragraphs. What I experienced serves as a great illustration of what can happen to you. My incidents involved two people and an organization. Here are the bare facts:
Person A: I posted a message on his Facebook page inquiring about a product he once sold. I wanted to know if he still represented the product, as I might want to buy some one day.
Person B: I posted a message on her Facebook page inquiring about a networking group that I knew she used to participate in. Didn’t receive a response from her.
The networking group was hosting an event in the area. Even after reviewing their website I still had a couple questions. I called the phone number on their site and left a message.
In each case I received no reply to my messages. (As for Person B: I ran into her at a later date and explained my situation. She admitted that she saw my message. I don’t recall why she didn’t reply.)
Wow.
Remember: I am a highly interested prospect for some of these opportunities, and a very warm prospect for one (the products sold by Person A). To contact each, I used the most logical channels. After all, people have Facebook pages and e-mail accounts.
Why were the messages ignored? What does it matter? I’m not going to contact them again. That’s not my responsibility. Perhaps some feel they don’t need to follow up on, say, Facebook messages. Why, then, do they have a Facebook account?
If you’re going to be involved in social media, the old saying goes, you better be prepared to socialize. I need to remind myself, for example, to spend time seeking out and interacting with others on Facebook. But at least I respond to messages.
What is good level of customer service to you might not appear that way to others. You may think that you’re doing fine, but are you really? Take a few moments now to assess your response regimen. You don’t need to be keyed in every 15 minutes. Indeed, that would be counterproductive. Checking for messages two to four times per day should be sufficient. (More frequently if you’re expecting an important message, of course.)
Don’t risk losing a customer to poor customer service. That’s one area that no business should be weak in. Speaking of leaving messages, feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear from you. And if you found value in this post, please pass it along.
For related reading, see “Good customer service starts with the incoming call” and “How to deal with customer complaints.”
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