10 Tips For VAR Customer Service

Ten tips for bettering customer service in the Internet age.

1. Provide easy ways for your clients to contact you, including phone and fax numbers, e-mail and Web addresses.
2. Create lists of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the products you market. This will save time and money.
3. Write back. E-mail should be answered by first an autoresponder, telling the sender you have received the e-mail and giving a reasonable expectation of when you will be following up.
4. Follow up. After the autoresponse, e-mail should be answered by a real person with a real return e-mail address--not the autoresponder address.
5. Post a clear and concise customer-service policy on your Web site and include or link to it in your responses to customer service inquires. The policy should dictate when free customer service becomes a billable item.
6. Create a customer-service log. This will enable you to monitor and clarify what steps have been taken in response to a problem.
7. Provide an escalation policy, and make sure your customer-service representatives understand that any customer can speak with the president of the company.
8. Create a feedback mechanism to gauge the effectiveness of your customer-service center, including human contact, Web sites and FAQs.
9. Have staff rotate though customer service. This will increase their--and your--sensitivity to customer problems and expectations.
10. And last--but not least--always be courteous!

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