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Jeff Toister

Customer Service Tip of the Week: Keep your promises

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

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Hi Reader,

Leaving my jacket in the rental car was 100% my fault.

The rental car company promised to look for it. I even talked to a customer service rep who assured me someone would check the car I left it in.

But nobody looked for it.

Even worse, I received a daily automated update email. "We're still looking for it!" This went on for weeks.

Each email was an empty promise that sowed mistrust.

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Keep Your Promises

How many times has a customer service rep broken their promise to you?

  • Failed to call you back.
  • Failed to send you something.
  • Failed to fix a problem.

It's frustrating. A broken promise makes you question why you're doing business with that company.

You can earn your customers' trust by doing what you say you will do.

  • Respond to customers when you say you'll respond.
  • Send what you promise to send.
  • Fix problems you promise to fix.

It's not as easy as it seems. People have a way of convincing themselves it's okay to break promises.

  • I was busy.
  • I forgot.
  • Someone else dropped the ball.

Imaging hearing those excuses as a customer. None of them are okay.
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You can stand out by being dependable, solid, and trustworthy.

Bonus Info: Broken promises aren't always obvious. You can uncover them by doing a promise audit.

Discussion: Have you done a promise audit? Do you have a question about doing one? Join the discussion about this week's tip on LinkedIn.

Featured Course: Managing Customer Expectations

Service failures happen when the experience falls short of expectations.

This LinkedIn Learning course shows you how to avoid situations where unreasonable expectations might develop. You'll learn how to choose the right language to educate customers and explain potential areas of confusion.

Note: you'll need access to LinkedIn Learning to take this course. It's included in your subscription if you are a LinkedIn Learning subscriber.

Get started --> Managing Customer Expectations​

Have a great week!
Jeff

PS. Do you enjoy these weekly tips? Help others discover them by writing a short testimonial.
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Jeff Toister
The Service Culture Guide
619-955-7946
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Jeff Toister

The Service Culture Guide

I help leaders build customer-focused teams. Get weekly customer service tips to sharpen your skills or share with your team.

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