MBA2736 Is Great Customer Service Dead? How To Stand Out And Be The Leader in Your Market

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I'm going to show you how you can do it right so that you can out compete your competition and really stand out from the crowd. I'm not speaking theory here, I'm speaking out of actual practice. I built a software company called webinar ninja from 2014 and we got acquired in 2024 for life changing money. And the biggest reason why we were successful was because of our customer service. We, we were maniacal about how well we served our customers in terms of speed, quality, efficiency and also just making sure our customers feel like they're winning. I'm telling you right now, this is actually really easy to mess up. This is why I wanted to create an episode just about this. Welcome Back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host Omar Zenholm where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Wednesday and Friday to help you start, grow and scale your business. I got a quick favor to ask if this show has helped you in any way. Leave me a quick review you could do. So wherever you listen to podcasts, this helps me and my team reach even more people who need the same no fluff practical business advice that you're getting from the show. It only takes a few seconds, but it makes a huge difference. Thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey. So I signed up for my gym. It's a basketball centric gym called Housed Hoops. I signed up last year and I paid in full upfront for my whole year of membership. But before I signed up, I asked one specific question to the salesperson that was going back and forth with me on sms. I asked them, hey, I travel a lot for work. Can I put my membership on hold from time to time without any penalties because I travel and I won't be able to make use of the full year? I was told, yes, you can definitely do that. And I actually confirmed it in person when I paid for my membership. When I went to the gym, I double checked because it's literally the deciding factor of me paying upfront for the year. Now fast forward a few weeks ago, I'm traveling, I put my membership on hold and I see a surprise charge on my account. It's not a huge amount, it's $45. But it's enough for me to stop and say, wait, what is this? Why am I being charged $45 if I paid everything in advance for the year? So I did what any reasonable adult does. I emailed support politely. I said, hey, what's going on here? I just got charged for 45. I'm not sure what this charge is for. Anytime I email support of any company that I use, I am highly aware of how hard it is for customer support agents and staff to deal with customers. So I'm super sensitive and I really want to make sure that they understand that. Hey, I'm not trying to be antagonistic. I. I just want to get some answers so I know how to take the next steps. So I got asked about the charge and then I got told that this charge is for holding your account, for freezing your account, and if you freeze it more than once a year, then you're going to get charged $5 for every week you hold it. So then I reply to them and Say, well, I wasn't aware that there's any charge for holding the account. And I actually asked, is there any limits for holding my account before I signed up? And I was told no. And then I actually reviewed my contract and there's nothing in the contract that says that. And I actually emailed a screenshot of the conversation I had on SMS with the salesperson asking the specific question to make sure that, hey, I'm in the clear and I can freeze as much as I want with no limits. So it's reasonable for me to be surprised about this. So I asked them, hey, can you please refund my account because it's not on my contract? I asked this question before I signed up for the year and I was told that I don't have to worry about it, but I'm getting charged anyway. So I just said, could you please refund me with $45 because this is obviously a mistake. So I received a reply. It was a copy and paste response that basically said, hey, we can change our terms whenever we want. And we had changed our terms back in, I think it was September and gave you 30 days notice. I want to stop here for a moment and say, even if, you know, I signed on the dotted line that says that they can change their terms whenever they want and they can charge me something that I didn't agree upon, let's just for a second, just accept that. Okay? Even if that's the case, you have to acknowledge what the customer has sent you, right? You have to acknowledge the fact that, yes, you were promised something in the beginning when you signed up. Yes, you did pay for the year up front. Yes, I do see the conversation that you sent me from the salesperson that was with us. By the way, I also mentioned that when I actually made the hold in the app, I wasn't notified in that moment that I will be charged. They could even acknowledge that as well. They could have just even just acknowledged the fact that, yes, I can see how you would be surprised by this charge. Okay. They just literally sent me the policy that they can change the policy at any point. So in this moment I just basically said, I'm going to use this as a moment to hopefully help this person out, this person that is dealing with me as a customer in the customer service department of this company, because I know how it is to be on that side. I answered 400 customer service tickets in one day at one point at Webinar Ninja, when I was getting started. So I explained clearly and respectfully, even offering the exact words that they could have used to handle this better. I said, I understand, but you could have simply said, hey, I'm going to see what I can do. I'm going to ask my manager. I'm going to figure out if there's something that we can do. As an exception, there is no attempt to to actually help the customer out. And on top of that, there is no basic empathy of the fact that this person is actually getting some bad news like they're not going to get the refund. So you can at least say, hey, I can see how this could be upsetting, but this is the situation. I wish I could be more of help.

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What do you think happened after I sent that email? Well, same tone, same script. And I actually got told this is what I tell everyone. And that's the point. When you're in customer service, you're in human services, okay? You're dealing with a human being. You can't just copy and paste the same responses and give it to everybody. You need to acknowledge what people say. You need to have some empathy. You also need to show that you care in some way about this person who's paid you money. One of the things I used to tell my team constantly is that hey, our customers are our biggest stakeholders. We didn't have any investors. We were self funded and be able to grow our business that way. So I told them our stakeholders are our customers. Without our customers, we all have no jobs. Okay? There is no money to be made and there's no money to be given out. So we need to make sure that no matter what the situation is, that they have the best experience possible when they communicate with us, even when we're delivering bad news. Throwing the terms and conditions at somebody is not going to be a good experience for them. A better experience, even if you're not able to help them, is showing that you made some effort, that hey, I spoke to my manager. I'm going to see what I can do. Actually, I took a look at what I was able to do and unfortunately I'm not able to refund you. I hope that you can still be a loyal customer and enjoy our gyms and sign up for another year. I'm going to pass on your feedback and make sure that there's a little bit more clarity when it comes to holding your account. And maybe we have a pop up message in the when people are holding their account, let them know they're going to be charged. So as you can see, it's easy to mess this up. I had a very unpleasant situation or unpleasant experience and therefore that $45 charge and how it was handled when I went back and forth with them is going to cost them hundreds and hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, because I will not renew for the next year. I'll find another basketball gym. There's plenty of them and they lost a loyal customer. And to be honest, not getting what I wanted and paying $45 was well worth it for me to be able to have this piece of content, this great case study of how not to do customer service that's going to help thousands and thousands of people who are listening and watching all over our platforms. Here's the takeaway, guys. Customer service isn't about enforcing rules. It's not about protecting policies. It's not about being technically correct. That's not customer service. Your job as a business is to make sure your customers are delighted. That's your job. Now, even when you're delivering bad news or a situation where you really can't do anything else, there's a better way to deliver that news so they feel like you still care or that you have some concern. Too many business owners are trying to prove a point. I'm not interested in being right. I'm interested in winning. As a business owner, you've heard this all over the Internet before. It's true. And when it comes to customer service, it's double true. When you're dealing with customers, you have to understand who the customer is, how long they've been a customer, what expectations they have as a customer and whether the spirit of the relationship matters more then the letter of the policy. And this is why when we were running our customer service team at Webinar Ninja, our software company, we had a rule. No scripted answers. You're not allowed to copy and paste an answer. You need to customize all your replies to all our customers. Depending on the situation, you can still stick to your policy and show empathy. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Here's the part that most people miss. This isn't the fault of the person. I was going back and forth on email. This is a leadership failure. This is a problem with not training their teams properly and not empowering their team members to think on their own, to de escalate situations, to empathize with their customers and make sure that they feel heard. You cannot compete in the marketplace if this is how you do customer service. It's far too competitive. And today, with all the AI bots and all the scripted answers and all these things that are out there, you can really stand out by being a human, by having humans deal with other humans. Humans and show empathy and show care and show enthusiasm for the fact that they're even a customer. By the way, what I'm talking about today ties directly into something that I'm covering in an upcoming episode that I'm excited about. And it's about why it's so hard to stand out these days. If you're running a business, creating content or building a brand, you don't want to miss that episode. Because standing out today has nothing to do with shouting louder and everything to do with how you treat people. So make sure you subscribe so you don't miss that episode once it comes out. I want to be clear, you can't think about what the customer has paid you and make a decision based on that. A lot of people are like, well, this customer paid me for a $29 product and they're complaining and they're asking for a refund and all that kind of stuff. You got to think more long term as a business owner. You got to think about lifetime value. Maybe they're going to get a refund on that $29 product, but later on they'll be happy with a different product that you give them. That's $500 or 1000 do or $2,000 a month in coaching. The point here is that you can't think short term, even if they never buy anything again, but because they have a great experience in that refund experience. They tell their friends and families, hey, it wasn't right for me. But hey, you might be interested in it. The point of today's episode is to really highlight that there is an opportunity for you. Everyone else is hiding behind policies and automation and bots and AI and they treat customers like tickets. Support tickets. No, the real person behind those email and you can win by doing something shockingly rare. Care. Teach your team to read the whole message that they get to respond like a human. No scripted answers and no canned responses. Acknowledge the emotions or what's happening in the email. It's fine to just repeat and say, hey, I see that you're upset because of 1, 2, 3, 4. I can see why that could be frustrating. And honestly, do it. Don't just pander to them. Explain whatever decision you make with respect. You don't have to say yes to everything. You just have to show that you actually care that you give a damn. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Customer service is not a department. It's actually your brand. It's branding. What I tell my team members is that whenever we interact with customers, whether on a customer support ticket, whether in person, whether on a call, this is when they form their opinion of us. This is what cultivates their idea of what our business is and what our brand is all about and the perception they have of us. So that is critical. Whoever's doing customer support is really doing marketing. And I'm talking about customer service before they buy, after they buy, years after they bought whatever it might be. That's when they decide whether they're going to trust you, continue to trust you, whether they're going to renew whatever membership they have with you or continue to buy other products from you, whether they're going to recommend you to other people, whether they're going to forgive mistakes that you make. Listen, I'm not flawless. I've made mistakes in business before and I've had to apologize to my customers and I've had customers that have been with me for decades because I was able to handle the situation in a way that made them feel like, hey, it was an honest mistake and this person cares enough that they're going to continue to take care of me in the long run. And it's a world full of sameness right now. It's one of the fastest ways I found to become a market leader is through customer support. If this episode hit home in any way, I highly recommend you check out our previous episode titled why People Turn against yout. When you start to succeed. It connects deeply with this conversation because how you handle people, conflict and discomfort in general is how you will grow and how it will define your long term success. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe. Subscribe to this podcast, hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now. Whether it's Apple or Spotify or ever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically and it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.

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