Great customer service starts with the basics.

In today’s marketing world, there’s so much emphasis on high-tech, sophisticated approaches to customer service, we tend to overlook the basics.

Here are two stories that suggest that good customer service really starts with the basics. Both stories are true. And while the examples concern a consumer real estate business, the lessons can apply to nearly any service business.

In the first case, a real estate agent sent a prospective home buyer copies of ten MLS listings of homes for sale. The next day, the buyer called to tell the agent that there were two properties that he was interested in. When he called, another agent answered the telephone and told him, “Becky just stepped out of the office. She’ll get back to you in about 30 minutes.”

Thirty minutes went by, a day went by, a week went by. The agent never returned the prospect’s phone call. Understandably, the buyer interpreted the agent’s non-response as disinterest in his business. He contacted another agency and eventually bought one of the two properties through the new agent.

The price of the missed phone call? Approximately $10,000 in commissions.

In another case, a prospective home buyer left several messages at an agency about some properties they had listed on their Internet site. Again, the buyer’s phone calls were not returned. Finally, in frustration he called and spoke to the agency owner, who apologized profusely for the oversight. “I’ll send you some information about our properties right away,” she promised.

The buyer expected to get the material in a day or two. But five days went by, a week passed, ten days went by, and still the information never arrived. Finally, he called the agency again, there was no answer, so he left a less than flattering message with the owner’s voice mail. He also told his story to another agency, as well as to several of his friends.

The owner, it should be noted, never called to apologize, or at least explain why she never sent the materials.

In the first case concerning the lost commissions, the agent most likely never returned the customer’s phone call because she never got the message in the first place. In the second case, we can assume the owner of the agency intended to send the materials, but simply forgot to do so.

As noted at the outset, we spend a lot of time and money on sophisticated customer relationship management programs, high-tech tracking systems that measure service quality, and employee training and re-training. However, these two stories suggest that many businesses would be better off focusing on the basics. . . .

For example, do you know that phone calls are being returned promptly at your business? Are you sure, or are you jus assuming they are? Customers expect to have their phone calls returned promptly. Unless they tell you otherwise, “promptly” to a customer means today – tomorrow at the latest.

Are employees checking and returning their email and voice mail messages regularly? In some cases businesses installed voice mail to alleviate the problem of lost or missed telephone messages, yet employees allow their messages to back up for days, forget to return calls, or – the worst offense – use their voice mail as a way to avoid customer “interruptions.”

If you are worried that customer calls are not being returned, consider setting up a centralized location for messages so that none get lost in a pile on someone’s desk. Instruct your staff that messages should include the name of the person who took the message, the time of the call, and – obviously – the name and phone number of the caller.

If nothing else, “audit” your telephone message procedures. Make sure they are clear, and that everyone in the office knows the procedures, as well as the financial impact when service procedures are not followed.

In our second case, the agent who forgot to send the customer the requested information simply needed to ‘fess up and apologize for the oversight. We’re human beings, not machines, and most people are willing to forgive a mistake, as long as the guilty party owns up to the error. Good customer service starts with taking responsibility for the customer. In this case, the owner of the agency failed to take responsibility, irritating a prospect and setting a bad example for the other agents in her office.

Some years ago a company that actually has a terrific customer service record established what they call their “Ooops!” fund. They use it to buy gift certificates at local restaurants or gift baskets from local florists. Whenever they goof up with a customer or prospect, they apologize promptly and send one of their “Ooops!” gifts. When they do make mistakes, which is rare, they are ready to make amends with the customer. By preparing for such an eventuality, it is easier for them to admit it when they make a mistake – and it is easier to make things right again.

This second case also demonstrates how important internal or personal support systems are to good customer service. A “support system” might be as simple as a personal information manager or Daytimer that reminds you of your appointments, your to-dos, and your phone calls. Many sophisticated computer-based and Internet resources are available. The idea is to have some sort of back-up system, so that when the frontal lobes fail (or wherever in the brain we remember these things!), the customer doesn’t suffer as a result.

Good customer service starts with the basics: returning phone calls, replying to emails, following-through as promised, and recovering promptly and graciously when we make mistakes.