Customer service is…one of the not-so-fun parts of hosting a virtual summit. When you run an event as big as a summit, an influx of customer support questions usually comes with it - no matter how clearly you spell things out! It’s just bound to happen when you have thousands of people at something free there will be at least a couple of “those people”.
It's hard to deal with and I know for those of you running your first summits, they can take you offer guard. So I hope this episode will shed some light on situations you can expect today and how to handle them. And for those of you who have hosted summits before, I’m guessing you’ll be nodding and smiling along.
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Episode at a glance:
[3:37] Margaux has been on the podcast before to talk about Leveraging Connections Over Paid Ads to Grow Your Virtual Summit, but we kick off the episode by talking about why Margaux wanted to share more about her approach to customer service in the first place. With 10+ years of experience in customer service before diving into the wedding planner role, she has had her fair share of experience that has made the customer support questions that come up in a summit much easier to navigate!
Customer service is something that I think people overlook when they start to plan a summit. They don't think they need to practice or train for it. They think it's as easy as answering some questions and it'll be fine. But there is really an art to it.
[14:33] One of the hardest things about customer service is learning how to not take it personally. Margaux talks about the evolution of customer service with summits and how you have to learn to sort through the reasonable and unreasonable things people say.
[17:04] Another aspect is knowing when it makes sense to go out of your way to support a customer who needs extra help, versus knowing when to be firm and say no when a customer is being difficult. Margaux shares a story about the differences she sees in herself and the way her approach to customer service has evolved the more summits she hosts.
As a summit host, you also have to feel when people are being unreasonable. Some people will go off the rails and you can't help them, and others will respond positively even if you can't do what they're asking, and they come back around. And that has nothing to do with me. I did nothing different in either situation that's on them. And so that's an important customer service lesson to learn.
[19:53] Margaux brings up a unique point that without rules, you can't make exceptions. In business, you have your systems, processes, and policies, and without those, you can't make informed decisions about when you want to break your rules on a case-by-case basis when someone asks for something special.
[23:17] There is one clear rule that Margaux doesn't break: the refund rule. Nobody gets a refund, and she shares why that is so important to her.
The reason that I always give for not allowing refunds is because there are more than my products in the all access pass, and I have to respect those other educators, content. I've never given back any money on a refund, but occasionally if someone asks about getting the all-access pass at the lower price point once it's expired, that's where I am sometimes able to bend
[29:00] Margaux finishes off by sharing her do's and don'ts with summit customer service such as reading the whole email and how to use active listening.
A lot of dealing with customer service is the anxiety of wondering if you're doing it right. It's almost always user error or user interpretation as opposed to you actually doing something wrong.
About Margaux
Margaux Fraise is the owner + creative director of Harmony Creative Studio, an award-winning boutique wedding planning firm in Los Angeles, CA.
A Stage IV breast cancer survivor, she has a unique perspective on what is truly valuable in love, life, and weddings – and brings that viewpoint to help her clients hone in on what matters to them. As a result, her work has been featured in numerous publications, including Style Me Pretty, Brides, The Knot, and more.
Margaux serves as a wedding business educator, frequent podcast guest and motivational speaker, course creator, and hosts the twice-yearly premiere online summit for wedding pros: the Wedding Summit Series.
Margaux's Website | The Wedding Summit Series | Connect on Instagram
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