Many self-employed individuals think that customer service is something that applies mostly to large businesses — companies with huge customer service call centers, or large retailers with hundreds of retail salespeople on the floor.
Not true, says Nancy Friedman, founder and president of Telephone Doctor, a customer service training company.
“Customer service is one of the most important pieces of ammunition that small businesses and the self-employed have against the big guys,” she says. “If you’re small, you simply cannot afford to not deliver great customer service.”
In her training seminars, Friedman identifies what she calls the six “touch points” of customer service:
The telephone
E-mail
Voice mail
Snail mail
Fax
And last of all, face-to-face communication
“These are the six ways you can either enhance or damage any business or personal relationship,” she says.
Most people use all six of these touch points every day, yet still suffer from miscommunication, says Friedman. That’s why she considers customer service training to be so critical.
“It shouldn’t be a matter of cost, because there’s plenty of free and low-cost training available. Nor should it be a matter of time, because customer service training doesn’t have to be lengthy or time-consuming. You just have to do it.”
Certain personality types are more inclined to be better at customer service than others, Friedman concedes. But anyone can be trained to be better. If you’re self-employed, you need to honestly analyze your own customer service strengths and weaknesses and then seek out training in the areas where you’re weak.
“Many of the customer service skills we teach are really common sense, but common sense isn’t always so common today,” she says. “If nothing else, training helps reinforce things people already know but may not be practicing.”
People love to share their customer service horror stories, says Friedman, and she hears them everyday.
“I do a lot of mystery calling for my clients, and the biggest mistake I see is that employees let me off the phone too quickly. They’re not capturing the phone call, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost sales are leaking through the phone lines as a result. Owners and their employees can be trained to recognize the buying signs that are present in every phone call to the business.”
Customer service training can be as simple as reading a book or buying an audio tape or videotape. You can also attend customer service training seminars and workshops.
Friedman says there are now opportunities for online customer service training as well. “You can get good training for $300 or $400 dollars, and if you don’t have a few hundred dollars to invest in something this important, then you shouldn’t be in business.”
