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District IV Manager - Member Relations
Best Western International, Inc

Customer service agent gives away too much money. 

I have an employee who regularly spends far more to resolve a customer problem than she needs to. This agent is great with customers and they love her and we love her too. We just need to give her some good firm, yet flexible guidelines for resolving customer problems without "giving away the farm." HELP!

Myra's answer to: Customer service agent gives away too much money.

Try explaining to this agent (and all of your employees) that not only do they have a responsibility to re gain customer goodwill after a service mishap, but they also have to make decisions that make good business sense.

Here a four questions I have customer service professionals ask themselves before making any financial adjustment that veers away from normal resolution strategies.

1. Does this decision make good business sense? That is, is it cost effective? Will this decision bring the customer back or will it merely appease the customer? If I owned the company, would I give (this amount of) money back in this situation?

2. Does this decision balance the interests of the customer and the company? Every decision should be made to both maintain loyalty and to help the company make money. If refunding $110 sounds like a lot of money today but will very likely result in a customer for life who will spend $58,000 over the course of their lifetime business with the company, that balances the interests of both parities and makes good business sense. If, however, spending $500 today won’t likely bring the customer back ever, its costs the company money. You then have to decide if it makes good business sense.

3. Have I considered all of the alternatives? Giving money back is not the only way to regain goodwill. If fact, a sincere attitude, sense of urgency and unreserved apology will g o much further in regaining goodwill than money. Before writing a check or crediting an account, look for other ways to resolve the problem and regaining goodwill.

4. Have I considered the consequences? Always remember this: Today’s exception becomes tomorrow’s expectation. If a customer is g ranted special treatment – let’s say a coupon to replace all 48 bags of chips in their Frito-Lay Variety Pack / when only three of the bags contained crushed chips – you had better believe that customer will expect the same restitution should the problem happen again. The next thin g you’ll know, you’ll be BACK on the phone with this customer eight months later with a request to replace forty-eight bags of chips, when only three, four, or five, of the  bags were damaged. Today’s expectation becomes tomorrow’s expectation.

If your people can answer YES to each of these four questions, then most likely they are making a good decision to refund the customer’s money.

Good luck!  

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