Courtesy of Commit Swimming.
This post is part of a larger effort by Commit Swimming to be transparent around their business practices. This effort is designed to help entrepreneurs within the swimming community to find inspiration to make the sport better.
Today’s topic is customer service!
Commit Swimming has an internal user success manual that is used as the guiding principle for all customer interactions.
It’s a bit different though… it’s not filled with response templates and objection handling techniques. Instead it has 4 simple principles:
- Be real
- Seek to understand
- Be honest
- Help completely
Be Real
No templates. Use true emotion, Use “!” and “:)” and words of passion. “You’re awesome”, “That made me feel great”, “You’re a freaking great customer”, “Thank you for the support you give”. No need for formal intros and outros if in the middle of an email chain.
Feel free to be you.
“Fixed! – should be all set now” or “Done” are perfectly valid support emails here at Commit.
Don’t be afraid to insert your life into the situation if you mention family or your own experiences in an email, that’s fine.
Everyone on the other end is a person and knows that you are too.
Seek to understand
If you understand, first display understanding. On the simple end of the spectrum, this is as simple as “Thanks for the note. I’m happy to help!” (but be real with your own version in your own moment when you send the email).
On the complex end of the spectrum, this could mean multiple sentences with an apology and reiterating how frustrated or upset the person must feel. Treat their upsetness as the end of the world that you are doing everything possible to fix. Because to them, this might truly be a big deal; which is perfectly understandable.
If you don’t fully understand the request, problem, situation, say that and then ask clarifying questions. Let them know their answers will help you help them.
Be Honest
No false expectations. No made up answers when we don’t know yet. “I don’t know – let me check” is a perfectly good answer at first. Never over-promise on future features or feature requests. Never give timelines for new features or bug fixes and explain the timeline is unknown; because it is. Say “we don’t do discounts”, say “I’m sorry”. Be 100% truthful with 100% of users 100% of the time.
Help completely
Give them confidence upfront that you will help them completely. If the situation warrants it, use phrases like “We will figure this out for you. I promise.” Make sure the feeling of “that wasn’t helpful” never is present in the user’s eyes. Always refund right away if asked. Always cancel right away if asked. Always follow up to make sure the answer helped if they don’t respond. Take the time to fully respond to even the most intricate questions.
Using those four principles, Anyone can handle customer success at Commit. Be real, seek to understand, be honest, and help completely.
What is Commit Swimming?
Here is a live demonstration of Commit’s software. Try it out below yourself.
- *No credit card required
- *Customize your own training terminology
- *4 different plans. If you coach high school, club, college, elite, age-group, it doesn’t matter – Commit has a plan for you.
Simple. Powerful.
Contact Commit anytime at founders@commitswimming.com. You can also follow them on Facebook, on Twitter, or on their blog.
