Power Bite: A Guide to Customer Service Follow Ups

1 Get to the Point Right Away

People are busy, and it’s important that your customer knows that you respect their time. Get down to business. You risk coming across as annoying if you don’t set context quickly. That said, it’s important to remain warm and polite when you’re following up. Starting your follow up with a warm greeting goes a long way to set the right tone. Here’s a good way to structure your follow up.

• Start with a greeting, and ask if this is a good time to speak.
• Explain the purpose of your outreach in a sentence to set some context.
• Share what you need from them.
• Provide alternatives – ask if they’d prefer to speak to you on a different communication channel instead.

Here’s an example:

Hi Sheena! I hope all is well with you. Is this a good time to connect? I was hoping to chat with you about X. Would you be available for a call at 2pm today? If not, would you prefer that I contact you via email or Whatsapp?

2 Go the Extra Mile

I remember the time I was impressed by a Customer Service representative I spoke to. She had called me to renew my Annual Maintenance Contract for my home appliances. When I mentioned to her that one of my appliances needed servicing, she went the extra mile to arrange the repairs for me, and said that she’d call back after my issues were sorted. She had gone beyond her scope to reduce effort on my end, and that really stood out to me.

So think about how you can go the extra mile for the customer you’re speaking to. Have you truly heard their challenges? What do they actually want? If you can find a way to go over and above to make things easier for them, do that.

3 Use the PCCP Framework

PCCP stands for Personalized, Competent, Convenient, and Proactive, and it’s a useful framework to use when you’re following up with customers. Let’s walk through it.

• Personalized

Make sure you’ve got the customer’s name right. Double check your communications to make sure you’re using the right pronouns. Add a greeting and a personalized statement to every interaction with your customer to come across as warm and human.

• Competent

Make sure you have all the information you need to answer the customer’s questions. When you know your stuff, you radiate competence and will leave a great impression.

• Convenient

Think about how to make the interaction as effortless for the customer as possible. Are you reaching out to them via channels they prefer? Are you clarifying whether this is a good time to chat?

• Proactive

If you tell a customer you will do something, make sure you keep your word. Follow up in a timely manner, and never keep the customer waiting.