What I’m reading: The Son by Jo Nesbø
What I’m listening to: The Woodpile by Frightened Rabbit
I had a great start to the week. A writer friend asked me to talk with his freelance writing class about what I do all day. The class was a great group of young adults who asked really smart questions. It was a pleasure sharing what I could with them. I invited them all here to the blog for Writers Worth Month, so hopefully we’ll see them around.
There’s nothing so exciting as a writer at the beginning of a career, is there? Well, maybe one in the middle of a career who has checks coming in regularly. That’s pretty damned exciting.
One of the things I talked about with them is marketing. You know me — I can’t not talk about marketing. It’s that one thing you do every day that keeps you working, keeps the clients coming in, and keeps that freelance writing career growing. Forget technique. Forget skill. Focus on marketing. Even a mediocre writer can make it with great marketing.
Another thing that keeps clients coming back — great customer service. It’s more than doing the job you’re hired to do. It’s being that writer who becomes a trusted source, a partner, an enthusiastic supporter of the company’s goals.
Yes, you are hired to be cheerleader, too.
And it’s not hard to give great customer service. You do it when you stop talking and start listening, or when you suggest something they hadn’t thought of that they could really benefit from. You give great customer service when your every action suggests you’re part of their team, not just the hired pen (or keyboard). You become the partner, the resource, the sounding board.
Clients remember that.
They remember too the times where freelance writers overstepped or didn’t filter or pushed a little too hard. And while it’s tough to know anyone’s personal tolerance level, it’s easy to avoid overdoing it.
One guy overdid it for my husband and me recently. We hired someone to do some light landscaping — weed and mulch. He visited last weekend, gave us a price, and finished the job this weekend.
However, when he was here last weekend, he mentioned he also did house cleaning. Fine, I get it. You have two businesses, and being from another country, you’re doing what you can to make your way.
It wasn’t until he mentioned again — three more times — this past weekend that I felt oversold. He gave me a card. Unbeknownst to me, he’d given my husband one, too. Still not bad. A little pushy. However, it was how he mentioned it that turned me off entirely.
“Yes, I work hard. I’m tired (he should have been — he’d worked 10 solid hours). And this isn’t my job. House cleaning is my job, and it’s hard to make money and….”
Right there.
Don’t sell me on your sob story. Sell me on your service.
So what customer service sins are we committing?
Not listening. I had an experience with a company this week — I signed up for their products to be shipped every three months. They sent a survey. I told them I liked the products but hated their website and lack of any info/interaction. Their response — two calls I wasn’t around to answer, then they canceled my future orders. I had to call to reinstate my order, and when I told the woman on the phone my feedback, she repeated “I’m sorry you didn’t like the products.” Huh? Listen to your customer.
Wait for clients to tell you what’s wrong. Get in the habit right now of getting back in touch with your clients a week or two after you hand in your final draft. Were they happy? Did they need anything more? Don’t let problems sit — get them out in the open, discuss them, and resolve them. It’s your job.
Assuming all clients know the process. It’s easy to assume that any client hiring you understands the process. Take extra time explaining to first-time clients what they can expect, particularly when it comes to the first draft. I tell clients (twice) that it’s a first draft. I explain what I did, why I did it, and what I expect from them. It helps your client understand you really do care about them being satisfied.
Pointing fingers. I had a few situations recently where mistakes were made and, in both cases, someone else had actually created the mistake. What I did — I fixed them. What I didn’t do — point the finger or make excuses. Clients don’t care, nor are they interested in shouldering blame. They want the job done their way. So do it.
Not communicating. Especially with new clients, you should have your communication plan in place. How often you’ll give them updates, who you’ll be reporting to, what you’ll be providing… if you communicate often, you reduce significantly errors and missteps, and you improve your client’s opinion of your work ethic.
Writers, what examples of lousy customer service have you seen?
How did you resolve an issue your client brought to your attention?
What are your most effective ways of keeping client satisfaction levels up?
8 responses to “How Your Customer Service is Killing Your Career”
Congrats on speaking to your friend's class, Lori! That sounds like fun. If they're smart they'll subscribe to your blog, too 😀
I've recently started using Asana (project management app) to set up reminders for myself to check in with clients regularly. I have one client that's always super busy and often needs 2-3 reminders before they give me feedback (even though the feedback is usually "This is great! No edits needed!" :)). They've thanked me a few times for being persistent. They're awesome clients in every other way, so I don't mind the extra check-ins. If I got lazy about it, I probably wouldn't keep getting work from them.
Thanks for the advice, Keri! I'll check out Asana. You're right — the follow-up contact is usually what pushes the needle in our direction.
Not listening is a pet peeve of mine. What I hate is when you take the time to fill out one of their "tickets". You provide specific details (but not too much) and after waiting (and waiting), they basically respond with, What did you need?
A recent example was on an order I placed. Instead of shipping it to me, they shipped it to the last address I used for a gift for a friend. I know I selected my address as I printed a copy of the order request. When I completed their ticket (because God forbid you can find a phone # on their site), I advised them they shipped Order # blah-blah to wrong address of yada, yada, yada instead of my address.
Their response (3 days later)?
Good news! Your order was delivered on such & such a date.
Head hitting keyboard. >:-<
Poor customer service just amazes me. It's not rocket science… and there are several companies that do it right… Costco, Amazon mostly, Chewy (pet stuff) so the info is out there. When I get good customer service I always ask for a supervisor and surprise them with complements… makes my day and theirs. And I suspect leads to even better cs.
Every time I turn something in, I ask the client to let me know if they have any questions or changes they need me to make. Occasionally I'll repeat that if I don't hear back one way or the other. But I didn't do that with an obnoxious "editor" I dealt with several months back. Why? She didn't seem to know what she wanted, since she'd tell me to do one thing, and when I did it she needed me to change it because it wasn't what she wanted. Really? Not worth the effort!
And as for customer service people not listening….yeesh! When the puppy was in being spayed almost two weeks ago, I bought her a nice cushy, washable, doggie bed since she wouldn't be able to fit into her "bedroom" (crate) with her e-collar. She loves the bed. She'll even curl up in it during the day sometimes. After 10 days, she was pretty well healed, so I washed the cushion. And one of the two spots of stitching that "tuft" the cushion ripped a 3/4" tear in the fabric.
Unsure of the store's return policies, I looked online. Their FAQs weren't helpful when it comes to used items that fell apart in the wash. So I went to the customer service "contact us" page and sent in my very succinct question. I got the lazy reply where they simply direct me back to their FAQ. I replied, telling them I'd already READ the FAQ and my question wasn't answered. I repeated the question. The next lazy response? They copied and pasted the FAQ into an email. Really?!? I replied and called them out on it. I then re-re-stated my simple yes or no question. This time a different customer service person answered and passed the buck: You'll have to call the store you purchased it. (That call took a while, too, since the person had to read a script before and after doing anything. Bottom line: if it's not tooooo dirty I can exchange it. I said the puppy is shedding and has slept on it a couple nights since it was washed – but I wasn't sure it could hold up through another washing.)
Cathy, my head is on the keyboard a lot these days, too. I just filled out another customer survey for this same company. Ten bucks says they'll call, then cancel if I don't answer. I'm tempted to not pick up the phone and see if I'm right.
I did just have a pretty good experience with HP. My print head died and they sent me a refurbished printer as a replacement (why not the print head is beyond me, but whatever). I belong to their Instant Ink subscription service — they mail ink to you as you run low (they monitor via the printer itself). Saves me oodles. HOWEVER… when they sent the new printer, the ink program was invalid (hooked to a specific machine). I had to get on the phone, and a very nice man walked me through everything. All set.
So I thought. However, I'm limited to how many pages I can print for $4.99 a month — 100. I'm good with that as they're rollover pages and I rarely print more than 30 a month. My rollover pages disappeared. So on the phone I went, this time a guy with a little more experience said I could have simply transferred that membership instead of cancel and renew. Wish Guy #1 had known that…
Anne, you're right. Some do it so well it makes you want to cry with joy when they bother. And that's all it takes anymore. Just a little attention goes miles beyond what anyone else is doing.
Paula, that was a wise decision! Some people you just don't ask. EVER.
Wow. Your experience sounds like my experience when a certain company installed fiber optic internet into the house. Thirty-two minutes on the customer service line and five people later, no one could tell me if the damned cable box was compatible with Tivo. Instead, the last one, the cheerful one who nearly lost her head, told me I could "just rent our DVR!" After I'd just bought a $300 Tivo?
Then there's the waste management company that, every damn year, tells me they don't pick up Christmas trees. And every damn year, they say to my husband, who calls after I do "When would you like to schedule that?"
Every. Damn. Year.
Your internet issue is similar to an internet/cable issue my friend had. They sent two new cableboxes – one actually sparked and nearly caused a fire, the other didn't work at all. She returned them both and stuck with her old "legacy box" and then bought a wifi router, too. Yet they kept billing her for the two boxes she'd returned (to the local operator, so she knew they weren't lost in transit) and the monthly router rental fee. Took a couple months but they finally straightened it out.
I've got to say Twitter is a godsend when it comes to customer service. When my phone & internet went down (different company than my friend uses) two days in a row and I couldn't get through their phone system, I tweeted, they replied and they helped me out. Even credited my account for three days (it was only out maybe 3-5 hours total). When the internet and phone went out over the weekend I was relieved that it was an area-wide outage, and not just me!
Dog bed situation resolved: They didn't have the pink striped pattern anymore, but I like the purple/black paw prints better. They had two sizes, I guessed with the larger size and when I brought the new bed to Customer Service, I said I wasn't sure it was the right size – she said it didn't matter if it was the larger size, they'd still do a straight exchange.
Twitter can be great that way! I remember reading about a sandwich shop, which was an early adopter of Twitter, and how one guy asking if they'd make him a sandwich to go turned into a new way to order — via Twitter.