{"id":32341,"date":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/there-is-no-excuse-to-not-respond-to-a-customer\/"},"modified":"2024-01-17T09:23:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T09:23:07","slug":"there-is-no-excuse-to-not-respond-to-a-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service\/there-is-no-excuse-to-not-respond-to-a-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"There Is No Excuse to Not Respond to a Customer"},"content":{"rendered":"<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" title=\"When your customer calls, emails or texts you, you must respond.\" src=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/4-21-21-Slow-Customer-Service-Response-Time-Golfers-Low-Res.jpg\" alt=\"When your customer calls, emails or texts you, you must respond.\" width=\"339\" height=\"407\" \/>\r\n\r\nLet me put it to you in the simplest terms possible. When your customer calls, emails or texts you, you must respond. That is unless you don\u2019t care if they ever do business with you again.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nOne of our subscribers to <a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/the-shepard-letter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Shepard Letter<\/em><\/a>, Andy Saks, owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sparkpresentations.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spark Presentations<\/a> and professional corporate presenter, sent in a story worth sharing. (By the way, if you\u2019ve got an amazing \u2013 or horrific \u2013 customer service story, send it over. I collect them and may include them in one of my articles or videos.) Here\u2019s a short version of what happened.\r\n\r\nAndy was interested in buying more life insurance, so he emailed the agent he had done business in the past. He didn\u2019t get a reply, so after several days he called the agent\u2019s office. He explained to the receptionist that he\u2019d reached out to him and nobody had responded. Her explanation was, \u201cHe was out that day and has been in a lot of meetings.\u201d\r\n\r\nAndy asked me, \u201cAm I out of touch with reality? Should I have expected a quicker response? After all, I\u2019m a client, a warm lead for new business, and I represent income to him. If he can\u2019t respond the same day, if not the same hour or minute, then don\u2019t you think someone from his organization should have been tasked with responding for him, rather than leaving me hanging for several days?\u201d\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s not that Andy is impatient. He mentioned that an <a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/amazing-business-radio-show\/amazing-business-radio-jeff-nicholson-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">auto-response<\/a> from his email would have been acceptable for the day he was out. But to keep him waiting for days and forcing him to call was, for Andy, unacceptable. Especially with the excuse, he was given. In effect, he was chasing the agent down to give him more business. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=i6AB7pj6Ulw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Usually, it\u2019s the other way around.<\/a>\r\n<h3>Here\u2019s the lesson:<\/h3>\r\nFast response builds trust and confidence, shows you care and is respectful. It\u2019s just the right thing to do. A slow response \u2013 or no response \u2013 sends the opposite message and will work against you for future business. At best, you\u2019ll have to work hard to overcome that <em>Moment of Misery<\/em>. At worst, your customer will move on and find someone who is more responsive.\r\n<h3>Two Considerations for Determining Speed of Response Times.<\/h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Decide what your minimum acceptable standards are for responding to calls, emails, and any other type of communication from your customers. It may be the same business day, by the next business day, or something much shorter.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Determine the optimal best response time. One that would impress your customers.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nAndy Saks shared his thoughts on this. \u201cI\u2019ve made quick responses a key tenet of my own business. I&#8217;ve found that responding within an hour to a lead shows, through my actions, that I care about them, distinguishes me immediately from other options, and helps build the trust that leads to business.\u201d\r\n\r\nIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re in sales, service, or any other part of your organization, something as easy as a quick response time has so many benefits that add to the customer experience.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/q_EQTSySzws\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/q_EQTSySzws<\/a>\r\n\r\n<em><a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shep Hyken<\/a>\u00a0is a customer service\/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/speaking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service and customer experience keynote speeches<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service training workshops<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.Hyken.com<\/a>. Connect with Shep on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shephyken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n\r\n(Copyright \u00a9 MMXXI, Shep Hyken)\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wixanswers.com\/?utm_source=shep_hyken&amp;utm_medium=influencer&amp;utm_campaign=influencer_campaign_2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Newsletter-Header_Wix-SponsorNEW.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"612\" height=\"72\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let me put it to you in the simplest terms possible. When your customer calls, emails or texts you, you must respond. That is unless you don\u2019t care if they ever do business with you again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6794,6807],"tags":[5420,5441,5982],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v22.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>There Is No Excuse to Not Respond to a Customer - Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You must respond to a customer when they call, email or test. 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