Is self service good for customer service? Yes an

Welcome to the secert shopping blog, our diary of customer service.

I contacted a local trade journal to see about placing some advertisements. The sales rep for the journal had an interesting response when I called on the telephone and asked for some information about pricing. He told me to look at their website and I would find everything I needed. Thank you very much and goodbye.

As a fan of salespeople I was more or less expecting to be qualified, sold to and closed. Oh well. Yes it is true that the web site gave rates and sizes. But it did not tell me about the demographics of the readership. It did not tell me whether I could build a working relationship with the advertising staff. It did not tell me much about the editorial calendar or seasonal considerations. All it gave me was rates and sizes.

I wonder why the person I talked to on the phone is called a sales rep? If the receptionist told me I was being transferred to the web site referral guy, I could have been a little more accepting about the response I got. Since I assume that the publisher of the journal is looking to add advertisers and increase ad revenue, I must also assume that sending me to the website was some sort of strategic decision to capture my business without spending any payroll dollars to do it.

There are a lot of parallels between advertisers and other customers. Advertisers buy space for a period of time. The incremental cost of adding a new customer is minimal; however, the cost of getting a new prospect is high. This trade journal probably does not get many new advertising inquiries in a day. It would have taken three to five minutes on the phone with me to get what I needed.

I love to do research and shopping on the web. I am an ideal candidate for self-service. However like most people I need a salesperson to sell me on my first contact with a potential vendor. So be cautious with your self-service plans. Self-service is wonderful for established users who are in a comfortable buying routine. Self-service can be a deal killer for prospects who are not quite sure they want to do business with you yet.

If you have self-service options, you might want to show those options to a prospect personally. You should definitely use an alternate choice close such as, “I can show you the self-service option and walk you through it, or if you prefer I can handle the transaction for you myself.” This allows your prospect to make a comfortable choice and feel like you care enough to ask. You can also try one like this, “I am in the office from 9 to 5 and can handle everything you need personally, or if you prefer, you can use our self-service option 24/7 and serve yourself at your convenience. Would you like to use the self-service option, or can I make an appointment to help you personally tomorrow or the next day?”

If you present your alternate choice in this manner, many people will say, “I’ll be glad to use to self-service option, but I just have a question or two I need answered now.”

Self-service is a two-edged sword. On the one side it offers convenience, ease of use and flexibility…all things that prospects and customers love. It is also impersonal. This can be a good thing for the established users who really don’t need to talk to anyone and are happy to do the transaction themselves. But it is a bad thing for someone who is not quite sure that they really want to do business with you. For the unsure prospect with concerns, the impersonal nature of self-service is a very bad thing. It drives prospects to your competitors.

Put yourself in your prospects’ and customers’ shoes. Would self-service be a pleasure for this person, or would it make that person feel as if you were blowing him off? Is this person a candidate for self-service? With a little help, can this person become a happy self-service customer? Self-service is a wonderful tool. Like all tools, it has good uses, but it does not do every job.

bye for now, Tron

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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