[Adam Raidabaugh]

#11119

Burning Question 🔥🔥🔥

When Covid first broke out, we saw a drastic change in customer behavior (rudeness, incivility et al.), and after 3 years, this seems to be the new normal. How have people changed their customer service practices, or what additional tools do you provide your employees to help them manage this “new normal” while still maintaining a high bar for service?

I ask because we have very good and solid people that work in this department, but over time it wears people down when bad behavior is dealt with daily, and we are very proactive with everything we do.

[InUnison Admin]

#11178

Local Business Wins 👏 👏 👏

I’ve started tracking my own time on various administrative and business development projects so that I have a better understanding not just of how client time is spent but how much time those “little” side tasks truly take and it’s really helped me better structure and price my time.

– Local RVA Business Owner

[InUnison Admin]

#11179

Local Business Woe 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

We are scaling up from having 2-4 person departments into 5-10 people departments and I feel like we’re drowning in processes now and our response time is sluggish since everything has to be submitted via an official request form etc.

– Local RVA Business Owner

[Sarah Paxton]

#11180

Rude customers… those squeaky wheels who think if they yell loud enough, they’ll get the grease. It is one of the most frustrating components of ANY business, and, you’re right, it did get worse during Covid because a lot of people were just plain grumpy about the whole situation.
We found that we had to be over-zealous with our communication and information BEFORE any problems started. For instance, with extended lead times, we had to teach some world economics to customers who didn’t realize a boat stuck in the Suez could affect their custom order delivery… but it did. Make sure your team is well informed with the WHYS and the WHATS, and try really hard NOT to use the word ‘policy’. Talk about being a small business / locally owned, and constantly reassure them that you are on their side.
All that said, anyone who is truly belligerent, yells, curses at my team and/or calls them liars or swindlers (this actually happened last week…) will not get a happy/passive response from me. We’ve been known to ‘fire’ a customer who mistreats an employee.
Play back the scenario in your head… imagine them explaining to a friend what happened. If they still sound like the one in the wrong, you’re okay.

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