Cussing Customer Service: Why you should Kill with Kindness not Cuss Words

One of the joys of working for Kimes Ranch is that you are continually moving, learning, adapting and working on new projects. No day is the same and you can try your hand at anything, from sales to design, writing to customer service. You’re not trapped in a cubicle and you’re not defined by one role. A draw back to this is often, we experience first hand the blessing and the curse that is customer service.

For the most part customer service is a joyful job, one we take pride in. You, the customer, give us positive feedback and warm fuzzies about the product that we work so hard to create and promote. The majority of the email and phone call transactions are smooth ones, you call with a return request or have a question about a style. We answer your question or issue the label and go about our day.

There are days though that test us. The days when a customer calls in a bad mood or emails in a not so friendly manner. We truly pride ourselves on being leaders in customer service, so we take these calls seriously and in my case to heart. It’s often hard to leave the harsh comments and jabs at the office and go about my day. So here is my advice for handling customer service not only with Kimes Ranch but with other companies as well.

1.     Describe the problem. This sounds like the easiest advice but if you call or email and start with an angry statement and never explain what’s wrong how can we remedy it? If you are emailing include a photo to back up your point and explain the problem so that we can physically log it in our system to prevent the same problem happening to someone else in the future.

2.     If there is a problem, let us correct it. After you have calmly and reasonably explained the problem, allow us to explain what we can do to remedy it. This gives us a chance to go above and beyond for you and to fix the problem.

3.     Realize human errors happen. Sometimes damages escape the warehouse, a seamstress had a bad day and misplaced your pocket, overnight/rush shipping gets missed. We try our best to be perfect but human errors will still occur. What’s the saying about glass houses?

4.     Customer service has feelings too. We love Kimes Ranch, you could say it’s in our blood. When you attack the product or our fellow employee, it feels as though you are attacking us. Sure the jeans our not for everyone and you are certainly entitled to your opinion on everything and everything but be kind in your delivery. Your actions have a chain reaction; anger feeds anger, calm feeds calm.

5.     Remember we care. We read every email, message, voicemail, tweet, comment, etc. The time it takes to respond varies but we will do our best to respond and take care of your needs. We love you, whether or not you love us. The only way we grow is when we become aware of a problem and are given the opportunity to remedy it.

I would love to hear your stories of customer service wins or losses. Be sure to share your thoughts and comments with me (or Kimes) on social media or via an email.

All the Best,

Paige Morgan

April 4, 2016