The picture of the cake above made me laugh. Hard. And then I realized it’s the kind of mistake I would make when I’m unfocused. Ok, well, I don’t think I would ever be that ditzy – but I come close on days where I’m just off my game. I can imagine that phone call:

Bakery: Hello! How can I help you?

Customer: I’d like to order a cake that says “Best Wishes Suzanne,” and underneath that, “We will miss you!”

Bakery: Great, we’ll have it ready for you in an hour.

There are places I just absolutely refuse to go and companies I just can’t stand to support with my business. Kinko’s being #1 on the list. Along with that comes Rite Aid, Walmart, and our really terrible webhost.

One of the things we try to excel at here at Fotoworks Pro is having the best customer service possible. My favorite part of working for a company committed to excellence in this area is that I get to have a lot of “face time” with our clients and know all of them to some degree. I find such joy in knowing the names and general background of our clients and getting to connect with them personally.

I didn’t realize just how rare this was in our business until I decided to try out another lab. I figured ya’ll were doing it, so I should too. ;-D  When I sent out a vague Tweet about my experience, I got a lot of DMs asking for more details. So here it is:

Really, I wanted to see what areas that lab was doing better than we are and where we are surpassing them. There were a few things I learned from the experience that I am hoping will improve our services here – more info in future blog posts to come! But mainly, I was just really disappointed in the service I got. I didn’t want to type in my account number or wait on hold for 8 minutes and 34 seconds (yes, I timed) before I got to talk to a real person. And when I finally did get to talk to a real person, she didn’t call me by my name. Not once. And I’m assuming that since I had to put in my account number, she had to have it right in front of her.

This really isn’t meant to complain about another lab (note, I’m not even hinting at which one I tried) – it’s all just a preface to my quick sermon on customer service. Because in this economy, you can’t afford to lose a client just because your phone skills are a little lacking.

My top 5 tips for How to Win Me As A Client  – and yes, photographers, I am a 22 year old female (hello, can you say “demographic”?)

1. Ask me my name if I don’t give it to you and try to use it when speaking with me.

2. Smile. Definitely in person. Especially over the phone. When you smile it changes the tone in your voice and puts the person you’re speaking with at ease.

3. If someone gets upset with you and is beginning to raise their voice, just lower yours, slowly and subtly until they bring their volume back down. They’ll have to relax and be quiet themselves in order to hear you. This has worked WONDERS for me as it stops a conversation from escalating.

4. Don’t put your clients on hold. If you need a minute to figure out some information, take their number and promise a quick call back. People would rather get a return call than sit on hold at your mercy for 5 minutes.

5. Use common sense. Focus on what your doing so you don’t make “stupid” mistakes. If you can catch a client’s mistake they will be utterly grateful and spread the good word of your great intelligence. ;-D (ex. A client requests you print graduation announcements that say “Class of 2008″ and you call and politely ask them if they meant Class of 2009).

What are your best tips for providing excellent customer service?