What Does Good Customer Service Look Like in a Startup?

[0:00] hey welcome to another episode of

[0:02] startup Chuck today we're going to be

[0:03] talking about customer service all right

[0:06] quick though here's a preview of what

[0:07] I've been working on I've been building

[0:09] a automated cookie dough chopping gun so

[0:13] stay tuned and now back to customer

[0:16] service I've been dealing a lot with

[0:18] customers these days mainly because it's

[0:19] a big part of my season right now with

[0:22] it being winter and uh working with the

[0:25] Chuck bucket and with that comes

[0:28] customer service so

[0:30] customer service isn't that hard

[0:32] honestly you can do a lot to have good

[0:35] customer service just by answering your

[0:37] customer questions in a timely manner it

[0:40] is a very low bar right now for customer

[0:44] service if I respond back to people in

[0:47] one day they're amazed honestly it

[0:52] shouldn't be that hard you should really

[0:53] bake customer service into your product

[0:57] if you can't afford to have good

[0:59] customers service with your product then

[1:02] perhaps your pricing strategy or the

[1:04] quality of your product isn't great to

[1:05] begin with and that's something to think

[1:07] about it is really important especially

[1:10] for small companies to have good

[1:11] customer service

[1:13] because as good customer service is good

[1:16] and other people will talk about your

[1:17] product in a positive light bad customer

[1:20] service is very toxic and if you aren't

[1:23] doing your best and being honest with

[1:25] your customers then that will get out

[1:28] and eventually your sales are hurt the

[1:31] only place where bad customer service

[1:34] really can stand is with cheap products

[1:38] that people can afford to lose money on

[1:41] and that are in retail markets where

[1:43] they don't have time to really research

[1:45] it and so if you're in a retail store um

[1:48] like Walmart for example and your

[1:50] products on the Shelf kind of like the

[1:52] Aden on TV thing or whatever yeah maybe

[1:55] then you don't have to have great

[1:56] customer service because somebody spent

[1:58] $5 on it and they just consider it a

[2:00] loss and they'll just return it if

[2:02] they're unhappy but if you've got a more

[2:04] expensive product or something that's a

[2:06] little more Niche you really don't want

[2:08] to alienate your Market I know for our

[2:11] Chuck rack and Chuck bucket we do a

[2:13] really good job of trying to listen to

[2:15] our customers and understand where

[2:18] they're coming at and really just help

[2:22] the best that we can and it shows that

[2:24] they care because a lot of times we'll

[2:26] get responses back from somebody who is

[2:29] unhappy because of this or that usually

[2:31] it's a delay in shipment or something

[2:33] came damaged not necessarily things that

[2:35] we can control and just by responding

[2:38] back to them in a day or two immediately

[2:40] it diffuses their anger and they're a

[2:42] lot happier so if I didn't mention it

[2:45] already really the most important thing

[2:47] is treat your customer the way you would

[2:49] want to be treated if you were a

[2:51] customer this is something that gets

[2:53] lost on a lot of people running

[2:55] companies you get so caught up on trying

[2:58] to be profitable or being right or um

[3:02] basically

[3:03] just get

[3:05] defensive think how is your customer

[3:08] feeling did they just Fork out a bunch

[3:10] of money for a product and it didn't

[3:12] meet expectations use this as a learning

[3:16] opportunity from each one of your

[3:17] customers your customer is somebody who

[3:20] wanted your product to start they want

[3:22] to be a fan of your product what don't

[3:25] they like about it it might be some

[3:27] really good feedback for you to know how

[3:29] you might want to change your product

[3:30] for the future different revisions so

[3:32] for example I know with uh Chuck bucket

[3:35] here we wanted to take all the feedback

[3:38] that we got from customers so we had a

[3:41] spreadsheet going and every time

[3:43] somebody had a problem or a suggestion

[3:46] we put it into the spreadsheet we sent

[3:48] out surveys and we tallied all of that

[3:50] up and that's what we were able to then

[3:52] roll into our generation 2 product that

[3:55] made it better people are happier and

[3:58] overall we ended up getting you know

[4:01] lots of Praise as opposed to you know

[4:02] minor complaints like we had before

[4:04] about maybe different things on the

[4:05] earlier designs so that's another

[4:09] opportunity don't fear each email from a

[4:13] customer for customer

[4:15] service you should look at it as an

[4:18] opportunity to improve and learn uh

[4:21] let's see here what else do I got so

[4:24] um let's see here so your customer does

[4:26] want to be heard also they like hear

[4:29] apologies saying you're sorry even if

[4:32] you know it's not your fault as a

[4:35] supplier still say hey I'm sorry and

[4:39] that is goes a long way with a customer

[4:41] just to say oh great I feel you know

[4:43] good about myself um you know they said

[4:46] they're sorry I'm in the right and maybe

[4:50] they're going to fix this uh try and fix

[4:52] things if you can especially if it's

[4:54] your fault as the you know owner of the

[4:57] company if you can fix it great great

[4:59] examples of this are In-N-Out Burger

[5:03] once I ordered took I'd say 35 minutes

[5:07] to get my order and they gave me a gift

[5:11] card for a free meal for next time right

[5:14] instead of me being super angry it cost

[5:17] him almost nothing to give me you know

[5:19] additional food at another time and

[5:22] guess what I was happy in fact I'd be

[5:24] happy even if I never even used it just

[5:26] because I felt like they valued me as a

[5:28] customer and they felt sorry they were

[5:31] apologetic even if they gave me the food

[5:33] and apologized and didn't give me the

[5:35] gift card I would have been thrilled

[5:37] because at least they realized that they

[5:39] were taking a long time and were sorry

[5:42] about it um what else here another great

[5:45] example of bad customer service and

[5:47] great customer service was two different

[5:50] ski binding companies that I had to deal

[5:51] with so one of The Binding companies I

[5:54] had a part that broke and I reached out

[5:58] to their customer service and I I said

[5:59] hey I'm not the original purchaser but I

[6:03] would like to buy a replacement piece

[6:05] you know I'm not even trying to get it

[6:06] for

[6:07] free uh I would like to you know buy a

[6:11] replacement uh piece

[6:14] and here's the information you need on

[6:16] what binding it is and that company

[6:19] basically told me hey you know what go

[6:23] pound San basically you're not the

[6:25] original purchaser go find a shop that

[6:27] sells this and see if they're willing to

[6:29] help

[6:31] which you know I understand maybe

[6:33] they're really busy maybe they're short

[6:35] staffed but what I've heard as a

[6:37] customer or even a future customer was

[6:41] we don't value you at all all we care

[6:43] about is our retail shops that bring in

[6:45] money and you're

[6:46] unimportant and

[6:48] so you contrast that with another

[6:50] experience I had with a different

[6:52] company based in Salt Lake I bought a

[6:55] pair of Yus skis at a gear shop bindings

[6:59] broke

[7:00] I went into the manufacturer I said hey

[7:03] these bindings broke you know I'm not

[7:05] the original owner what do I need to do

[7:08] they replaced the part they remounted

[7:10] the bindings they gave me extra leashes

[7:13] on uh these are Telemark bindings but

[7:15] they gave me extra leashes on them and

[7:17] sent me on my way didn't charge me a

[7:19] dime and guess what now I'm an advocate

[7:22] for that

[7:23] company and I will tell everybody I know

[7:26] how much I love them how great their

[7:28] customer service was how terrible the

[7:31] customer service was at this other

[7:33] company I dealt with which I won't name

[7:35] names but either way now whenever I'm

[7:38] looking to buy new bindings even though

[7:40] I didn't buy new bindings from them to

[7:42] begin with in the future I say man which

[7:45] company do I want to work with of course

[7:47] the one that took care of me as a

[7:49] customer and I suggest everybody uses

[7:51] them in the future because they were

[7:53] great to work with even if their product

[7:55] wasn't as good because maybe you know it

[7:59] broke

[8:00] but still if they're willing to back up

[8:02] their product if they're willing to work

[8:03] with me as a customer and keep me happy

[8:06] that's what I care more about I'd rather

[8:08] buy something that is a nine out of 10

[8:11] and great customer service than a 10 out

[8:12] of 10 and terrible customer service so

[8:16] that keep that in mind that's really

[8:17] important you know a lot of this is

[8:19] common sense right but it's easy to

[8:21] forget when you're trying to be profit

[8:23] minded running a company

[8:26] to say oh well we we can't help you with

[8:29] that because you know we're going to

[8:31] lose money lots of times for example we

[8:34] get packages that are damaged when they

[8:36] get to the customer or poor custo uh

[8:39] they're late or they go missing and we

[8:42] do everything we can to get them

[8:44] replacement parts and then sorted out

[8:46] with UPS after the fact uh we still keep

[8:49] track of whether or not they're

[8:50] delivered or not but you know if UPS

[8:53] damages something and you call up ups

[8:57] and it's actually damaged and the

[9:00] customer needs a replacement yeah we're

[9:03] going to not wait for that damaged part

[9:05] to get back we're going to send a

[9:06] replacement immediately and then just

[9:09] see what happens with UPS you know in a

[9:12] week or two when we finally get things

[9:13] sorted out that sort of thing is

[9:16] important uh what else we got here um

[9:20] Fitbit I had a friend who during the

[9:22] initial Fitbit

[9:23] Kickstarter uh I don't remember what it

[9:25] was I think her strap broke or something

[9:27] like that what did they do

[9:29] they sent her a brand new strap and a

[9:31] coupon code for 15% off well guess what

[9:34] she did that's a great strategy not only

[9:38] did she say oh it was super nice they

[9:40] replaced the strap for me even though

[9:42] you know probably shouldn't have broken

[9:43] in the first place but that's good

[9:46] customer service here's a 15% off gift

[9:49] card or coupon or whatever it was that

[9:51] she gave then to another cooworker

[9:53] and now Fitbit sold two

[9:56] things so that's another strategy right

[9:59] like not only do a really good job for

[10:01] that customer but if you show a really

[10:03] good job with your customer service

[10:05] sometimes providing a discount code can

[10:08] actually yield you additional sales just

[10:10] because of your good customer service

[10:12] and guess what then you've earned all

[10:14] that time and money back with your 15

[10:17] minutes that you spent on that one

[10:18] customer for customer service or even

[10:20] less usually these emails don't take

[10:22] more than two three minutes to sort

[10:24] things

[10:25] out see here what else I got on my list

[10:28] so fix mistakes try to avoid excuses

[10:33] excuses aren't going to

[10:34] help I know a lot of times if something

[10:37] is running

[10:38] late we just try and say we're sorry you

[10:42] know this shouldn't have happened uh but

[10:44] we try not to say oh well it was you

[10:46] know this company's fault or UPS's fault

[10:49] or blah blah blah that customers don't

[10:52] want to hear excuses they want to hear

[10:54] we're sorry this is what we're going to

[10:57] do or how we're going to try and help

[10:58] you you and I know that sometimes it

[11:03] might not even be we're going to fix it

[11:05] for you it might be something along the

[11:06] lines of hey we are going to try and fix

[11:10] this for the future so nobody else has

[11:11] the same problem you had thank you for

[11:14] bringing this to our attention if you do

[11:16] that customers feel like they were heard

[11:18] and valued and even though it doesn't

[11:21] fix it for them it'll fix it for

[11:23] somebody else case in point we had some

[11:26] assembly videos that we've modified

[11:29] or updated three times because people

[11:32] have said oh I didn't understand how to

[11:34] do this thing or that thing it was a

[11:35] little confusing for us well at this

[11:38] point it's already assembled for the

[11:39] customer but if we say hey thank you for

[11:43] that feedback we went ahead and we've

[11:44] updated that video so that other people

[11:46] won't encounter the same problems you

[11:48] had now that customer feels validated

[11:52] with their issue and appreciated and

[11:55] they're going to be more likely to tell

[11:56] somebody positive feedback versus

[11:58] negative feed feedback uh let's see

[12:02] here um I mentioned how baking customer

[12:06] service into your price and quality of

[12:07] your product I do think that's

[12:10] important um even at you know a cheaper

[12:13] product things like that it's

[12:16] unfortunately with a lot of larger

[12:18] companies as they continue to grow they

[12:21] try and become more and more

[12:22] profit-minded there's not as much that

[12:24] they can uh I guess save in terms of

[12:27] where to save money so then they start

[12:29] cutting Personnel like customer service

[12:33] and that's the only way they can save 1%

[12:36] or earn 1% more profit on their product

[12:39] if you are a startup if you've got a new

[12:41] product

[12:43] you that's not going to be where you're

[12:45] saving money it's not going to be on

[12:47] customer service you're going to be

[12:49] saving money by basically getting more

[12:52] market share by selling more becoming

[12:56] you know more Revenue uh for forward and

[13:01] so that's what you should be focusing on

[13:02] is good customer service you know which

[13:05] will make your sales guys job a lot

[13:07] easier trying to sell your product

[13:09] because people will hear about how good

[13:11] the product is um last thing I want to

[13:14] say is the customer isn't always right A

[13:20] lot of times you'll get people who

[13:23] demand things that they definitely don't

[13:26] have the right for for example oh I

[13:29] ordered this product and this is an not

[13:31] a real example this is madeup but um oh

[13:35] I ordered this product I drove my car

[13:38] over it I thought it should be stronger

[13:42] you need to replace this well that's a

[13:45] really weird thing to ask right like we

[13:49] didn't say that you could drive your car

[13:51] over this phone why do you think that we

[13:54] owe you a

[13:56] replacement um in which case it's like

[13:59] okay customer isn't right in this

[14:00] situation they're expecting

[14:03] a

[14:05] situation that they assume that they're

[14:07] always right and that everybody should

[14:09] bend to their will in this point or in

[14:12] this case you really just again be

[14:14] apologetic and uh say we're sorry that

[14:18] our phone you know didn't withstand

[14:21] going underneath the crushing weight of

[14:23] your massive vehicle and this can be

[14:26] frustrating for you and

[14:30] um basically stay you know again we're

[14:33] sorry we can't offer you a refund

[14:36] because it was used not according to the

[14:39] instructions right be as gentle as you

[14:42] can but then leave it at that they're

[14:44] going to write back possibly and say

[14:46] this is silly R I'm going to tell

[14:49] everybody on Reddit that you guys are a

[14:51] terrible company just leave it at that

[14:53] don't keep responding back don't fuel

[14:56] the

[14:57] fire you don't want a anybody to have a

[15:01] wonderful you know set of emails that

[15:03] then they can post and show how terrible

[15:05] you are out of context with because they

[15:08] can just leave out their

[15:09] context um and then secondarily if they

[15:13] if you left it at that and they went and

[15:15] started telling their friends about how

[15:16] oh I drove over it with my car and they

[15:18] didn't replace it most people are going

[15:20] to think that they're kind of crazy

[15:23] anyways so better just to leave it at

[15:26] that don't feel the fire and and just

[15:29] move on um there's always going to be

[15:32] somebody trying to get something for

[15:34] free not that you shouldn't help people

[15:36] or help is needed so most of the times

[15:38] if we have you know uh issues for our

[15:41] customers a lot of times we'll just send

[15:43] them parts right away um even if it's at

[15:46] break even or maybe slightly below cost

[15:49] depending on what broke and whether or

[15:50] not we feel like it should have broke or

[15:52] not broke Etc I know we had one customer

[15:55] who backed their Chuck bucket into a

[15:58] snow bank and it got bent up which again

[16:03] the bucket isn't meant to get backed

[16:05] into a massive you know ice hard snow

[16:08] bank it's not going to be able to handle

[16:10] the entire mass of a car um crushing it

[16:15] but you know what we had a demo unit and

[16:19] so you know we worked with that customer

[16:21] and said hey we're sorry to hear about

[16:23] that that's unfortunate luckily they

[16:26] were local so then we were able to B

[16:28] basically give them a scratched up demo

[16:31] unit that was still functional it wasn't

[16:33] really scratched up but I mean it was an

[16:36] earlier earlier demo prototype that we

[16:39] had used a bunch for shows and um things

[16:41] like that so you know that was a great

[16:44] example of it didn't cost us anything to

[16:46] give them that we had it sitting around

[16:49] and um they're more likely to enjoy the

[16:52] product and tell other people about it

[16:53] so you know sometimes uh not trying to

[16:57] get every last penny from every one of

[16:58] your customers is a good thing but you

[17:02] know if if you can't afford good

[17:03] customer service raise your product a

[17:05] dollar you'll easily be able to afford

[17:08] it then doesn't take very much time to

[17:11] answer all those emails so that's that's

[17:13] all I got for customer service wanted to

[17:16] share that with all of you and hopefully

[17:19] you'll have company that's got really

[17:21] good customer service because like most

[17:24] people that's our pet peeve is terrible

[17:27] customer service just frustr everybody

[17:29] we need to start raising the bar of good

[17:32] customer service so that all this

[17:35] terrible customer service ends all right

[17:38] thank you all please like And subscribe

[17:41] check out on my other cool videos

[17:42] there's a lot of them I'll be doing more

[17:45] on Startup things as well as some more

[17:47] really cool builds and I'll see you guys

[17:49] in the

[17:50] future