As most of you can tell, I love writing and sharing my customer service knowledge. I thought about approaching several business-related magazines in regard to submitting articles for consideration. After an unsuccessful search of the website of a well-known national magazine for their article submission criteria, I decided to just call the publishing company.

The person answering the phone was pleasant, listened to my reason for calling, and advised me that it would be necessary to transfer my call to the appropriate person. The next person answered right away, listened to my request, then stated that the article submission criteria could be found on their website by entering Pitch To Us in the search area.

I was in the middle of asking her if she could hang on with me while I followed her instructions on the website, but didn’t get the chance to finish my request because she stated “Uh no. I have to go! and disconnected the call. I sat in stunned silence for about a minute before sharing the ordeal with my wife who burst into laughter!

When a customer visits your website in search of information about your product or service, make sure that the experience is a pleasant one. Become the customer by utilizing your own website to insure its ease of operation for your customer.

Don’t frustrate your customer with broken links or outdated information. Should your customer call asking for assistance with information that’s available on your website, patiently direct them to the location and stay on the line to verify that they have in fact successfully located the information.

If possible, allow the customer the option to “chat” with your customer service department. Now imagine the backlash to this company had I tweeted or Facebooked my experience with the publisher’s name. I know some of you are asking “Hey Errol. Will you try again with this particular magazine?” My answer is yes. I won’t let the action of one employee speak for the entire company.

Who knows, I might get an opportunity to turn them into a client. We can start with that website. Had I been successful in finding the article submission criteria or offered the option to chat with a customer service representative, a phone call to the publisher would have been unnecessary! Oh well, on to the next publisher!