If You Assume, You May Lose

One of the biggest lessons to be learned in the world of customer service, is never assume anything. I believe that is an even more valuable lesson in the world of Social CRM, since our interactions via the World Wide Web can be so easily misinterpreted. And those interactions can include our lack of response when it comes to a customer voicing a concern or making suggestions. Sadly, I have heard CSR's resign themselves to the fact that if a customer is really upset about a product or service, they will simply try to do a better job for the customer next time they place an order.

I have to ask, what if there is no next time? What if that customer is so ticked off they never contact us again and place another order? As marketers, we must be willing to follow up with any customer who voices a concern or is unhappy for any reason. We simply cannot assume "they will get over it" or even that the customer will return to place more orders.

At the same time, we also must be careful not to assume that just because a customer is upset, this automatically means they never want to speak to us again. A customer may rifle off an e-mail or Facebook post in hasty anger, and then regret it later. Or they may be genuinely upset, and our willingness to reach out to them may mean the difference between keeping that valuable customer or losing them to a competitor.

A CSR recently received a very angry e-mail from a customer who was upset about the company's lack of credible information regarding when their order was going to be shipped. The customer all but accused the company of lying about this information, and went on to inform the CSR that they would be recommending that their procurement group look at other sources for their requirements, since they could not live with this level of poor service. This e-mail was shared with the CSR's manager as well as the logistics manager of the company. This was one very upset customer who also represented a large account for this company.

An investigation into what happened to this particular order revealed several areas of failure, chief among them being the lack of follow up by several people who assumed the order was being handled and who passed along invalid information to the customer. The CSR contacted the customer, was truthful with the customer regarding what happened, and outlined the steps that were taken to avoid this in the future. In addition, the CSR offered free shipping and a discount on the order. The customer e-mailed the CSR back, thanking them for the follow up, and then noted that this experience was so out of character for this company, that the customer had thought there must have been some sort of problem out of the ordinary that caused this unpleasant chain of events. The customer went from threatening to pull their business to sharing accolades about their prior customer service experience.

What if the CSR had assumed the customer would simply get over it? Or that the customer was so upset they would not even want to talk to the CSR? This may have had a totally different outcome, had it not been for the CSR reaching out and being truthful with the customer. The CSR called this customer, and did not rely on more e-mails being traded back and forth, which may have caused an even greater rift in this customer relationship. Assumptions in this case, may have resulted in a lost account and the negative press that goes along with such a loss.

Indeed, if you assume, you may lose.

"Assumptions are the termites of relationships." Henry Winkler