As a customer care representative, many times you are the first interaction customers have with your company. Whether you work for a single company or a call center, like VoiceNation Live, as the front line staff for any company it's extremely important for you to know what callers expect from you. According to a study done by BIGresearch, 17% of your customers will leave after only 1 service slipup, 40% after 2 and 28% more after 3 service mistakes. That's potentially 85% of your customers after only 3 customer service slipups. Once you know how to meet your customer's expectations, you will be able to exceed their expectations without even trying. When you think of customer expectations what comes to mind? Is it just "Hello" or do you feel the need to personally ensure every customer inquiry is properly handled? Whatever your style may be, take a look at the main things that customers expect from you as a customer care representative.

1. LISTEN

Excellent listening and communication skills are a must for any customer service professional. After all, how much confidence do you think you'll inspire in your clients if their information is taken incorrectly? When you take accurate information and repeat back what they're saying, most customers really feel as though they a re being heard. And isn't that the whole reason your customer called in the first place? Think about it like this; if you get the message right the first time, your caller won't have to call back and complain a second time.

2. Do your job

9 times out of 10, your customer will not mind if you're unable to give them all the answers right then. Believe it or not, most customers (including irate ones) understand that you may not know everything. They do, however, care whether or not you are able to properly do your job. For example, if a caller wants to speak with someone concerning their bill, they may need to speak with someone other than you. In this instance, the caller is expecting at the very least for you to relay an accurate message in a timely fashion. Basically what it all boils down to is even if you don't have the answer to a customer's question, having a 'can do' attitude shows that you are trying not just talking.

3. Be polite and friendly

That's right folks; if you want to please your customers then you have to use those magic words. You know which ones they are; please, thank you and don't forget about May I. When you are not using demanding words such as 'what is' or 'you have to', the customer is generally easier to handle. Also, don't forget that under no circumstances are you to ever belittle or argue with the customer. You may be thinking, "but he is wrong!" Well, if that actually is the case then it is your job as the CCR to politely inform the caller of the misunderstanding. How do you do this? Try saying something like; "you may have misunderstood me" or "I don't think that's correct, let me explain it better".

4. Provide information

When a customer calls you, generally they are searching for information. Even if you don't have all the information they need that does not mean you cannot keep the caller informed. Just make sure you are giving the right amount of information. Feel free to let them know what's going on; if John is in a meeting let the caller know. However, you do want to make sure you are not giving too much information. After all, your caller does not want to know if John is in the bathroom.

5. Empathize/Sympathize

The caller is not expecting you to feel exactly the same as them, but they do expect you to at least try to understand where they are coming from; especially if they're upset. Put yourself in the customer's shoes. How would you feel if you received a defective product? Most likely you'd be upset and would want for someone to understand why you are so displeased.

The majority of your callers all expect pretty much the same things from you, the customer care representative. It is your job to, at the very least, meet their expectations. After all, you would be out of a job if you had no customers.

Percentages taken from: http://www.startupnation.com/articles/1103/1/AT_What-Customers-Want.asp