Quick Tips to Improve Customer Support

Customers are the stars of any business and the customer support is the vital parts of any company. Whether you are working in a web hosting industry or selling items through your e-commerce site, you just cannot afford to ignore your customer. Communication plays the key role here by bridging the company with the clients. A major concern here is to saying No or communicating negative responses to the clients without making them angry. How do you tackle such instances can have a great impact on the business. So, here are a few tips for you:

 

The Art of Eliminating the Negative Words

The way you communicate can make a big difference. Never use the negative words even if the answer is negative. This is an art not everyone may be apt at. However, by keeping a few key points in mind and more importantly with constant practice you can learn this art

 

Do’s

• In most of the case, the simplest way to do this is to talk in future tense specifying the condition required for making a positive statement like "Sure sir, after joining our premium membership program you can definitely avail this service."

 

Don’ts

• It’s not about injecting too many yes inside your answer that ultimately ends with a big No!

Many people take a long-winded route explaining a number of excuses before they land at a final No! It further irritates the client as you keep him puzzled an end with a No!

 

What If the NO is Inevitable?

• In case, if you are not providing the required service at all and there is no way to eliminate a No, then just start with an apology and use some soothing phrase that can prepare the client to hear coming No!

For example "Sorry, Sir, Actually we would have loved to offer you _<<Required Service/product>> but we don't provide this service at this point in time. Is there anything else I could do for you?"

 

Give them the “Next Best Solution”

You may not be able to offer what your client asks for but in most of the cases, you can at least provide them the next best solution. Even if that does not help, it can leave a positive impact on the client that you genuinely tried to extend him a helping hand.

 

A Better Option

• Better still, if applicable you can tell them something that has a more inviting tone. “Sorry we don’t have the brand you are asking for but we do have another premium brand with 50% discount offer.”

• The ideal sentence structure is (Apology + Option + Positive Punch)

 

Show Them the Logic

Many times the customers don't understand the reason behind your "No" and the argument starts. Interestingly, once the argument starts, neither the client nor the customer representative tries to go to the root cause.

 

What Should you do?

• Just offering a to-the-point, a brief explanation to your client would be enough to pacify him. What you need to understand here is that anger could easily be rooted out with the help of logical reasoning. So, even before the client starts the argument, you can briefly explain the reason behind No and in most of the cases, the things would not go very far.

 

Transfer the Responsibility

Many times you don’t really have the power to make any decision. What you need to do is to transfer the responsibility to your upper management. That is the last refuge for you. When you tell your client that the issue needs to be transferred to the higher authority it dawns on him that your post has certain limitations preventing you from helping them out or even suggesting an alternative. So, they see no point in arguing further (hopefully). That ends the conversation then and there.
 

Conclusion

Saying No to the clients without bearing the heat could be a challenging task. However, by eliminating or minimizing the negativity from such statements you can prevent yourself from the wrath of customers. There are multiple ways to take the negativity out of your negative statements by the strategic use of words, tone, and presentation. Communicating a negative statement in a positive manner is an art that you need to learn if you really want to enjoy a long-lasting success in the industry.