9 “Nevers” You Need To Know For Giving Good Customer Service

We’re always told to never say never; however, when it comes to giving good customer service, there are nine “nevers” you need to know. As I wrote this customer service blog post, I realized there were two more I wanted to add, but I really like the alliteration in our blog title, so we’ll call 10 and 11 “bonus” tips for good customer service.

Without further ado…

1. Never say no
   No is poisonous. It is finite, and sounds off-putting by itself. Dress it up and let the customer down gently, or even better, convert your answer into an alternative solution!
2. Never tell a lie
   Don’t lie to your customers. Any questions?
3. Never make excuses
   Accountability goes a long way. Avoid making excuses, because it shifts the blame for what happened and does nothing to help the situation. You don’t have to take responsibility, but don’t make an excuse for why something occurred. Just apologize and fix it.
4. Never use a canned reply
   No one likes talking to a robot, so read, understand, and respond to the person. Definitely don’t copy-and-paste your entire repertoire of customer service communication.
5. Never make the customer wait
   Be attentive. Being ignored sucks, and in a digital world, it only takes a second to make someone feel like they’ve been forgotten.
6. Never invite emotions into the mix
   Negative emotions add nothing to the art of solving a problem, and a positive attitude and outlook can go a long way!
7. Never speak negatively about anyone
   This includes competitors, colleagues, companies, customers, etc. It’s not classy, so don’t do it. Ever. Period.
8. Never make the customer feel unimportant
   This is something a lot of companies do — perhaps even unintentionally or unknowingly. But, telling any customer, “We’d love to help you with this issue, but you’re not one of our ‘premium rewards card holders’” (or something of the sort) is just bad for business.
9. Never do anything with which you’re uncomfortable
   Your role in the customer service experience should never involve doing anything with which you are personally uncomfortable.
10. Never let the customer leave with unanswered questions
    Always make sure the customer has a clear understanding of any question they have — even if you don’t know. If the customer asks you a question you don’t know, tell them you don’t know, but offer to find out and get back to them — then, do what you say you’re going to do and get back to them with an answer.
11. Never, ever, ever, forget the golden rule of customer service:
    Treat each customer how they want to be treated.

Some people have put creative spins on the golden rule of customer service to be more subjective. For example, “treat each customer as you would want to be treated if you were the customer.”

The version of the golden rule of customer service you like best doesn’t matter. A positive outcome of every customer service interaction, does.

Originally published at blog.comnio.com on January 16, 2016.