The Secrets to Getting Better Service
http://www.refresher.com/mindfulnetwork/articlelive/articles/129/1/The-Secrets-to-Getting-Better-Service/Page1.html
JoAnna Brandi
JoAnna Brandi is the Publisher of the Customer Care Coach leadership program. She is the author of three books: Winning at Customer Retention, 101 Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal, and Keep 'em Coming Back, Building Customer Loyalty - 21 Essential Elements in ACTION, and 54 Ways to stay Positive in a Changing, Challenging and Sometimes Negative World. JoAnna is an accomplished public speaker and a contributing author to numerous business publications. Her work in customer loyalty has been cited in Fortune Magazine, Sales and Marketing Magazine, The Executive Report on Customer Retention, US Banker, the Retail Advantage, The Kiplinger Letter, The Competitive Advantage and dozens of others. You can subscribe to her bi-weekly Customer Care Tip for free and find more of her work http://www.customercarecoach.com and her new blog By JoAnna Brandi
Published on 10/25/2008
I’d love service to be better - and it’s my goal to transform the mediocre customer service we see in most companies today into “Exquisite Customer Care” - but in the meantime if you want better service - be a better customer! At the very least - meet the service giver half way. And who knows, maybe after having such a wonderful interaction with you, the service giver will be inspired to do better with the next person.
The Secrets to Getting Better Service
Last week while facilitating a workshop on treating INTERNAL customers “exquisitely” we got into a lively discussion about how acting differently when we are in the role of customer gets us better service.
While we, as customers, do our fair share of griping about the poor service “out there” we wondered about how much of it we bring on ourselves.
While I’ll never make excuses for poor service, since I believe delivering Exquisite Customer Care is within anyone’s reach, I can understand why some service givers react the way they do. Some customers are downright ornery! I was inspired by the discussion to make some notes to share with you.
If you want to GET good service I suggest a number of things.
Smile. It’s a lot easier for a service giver to smile when they are being smiled at! Be friendly and open. Don’t assume you’ll get bad service - in fact those people that expect it, usually get it. Try a different approach - sometimes you might be wrong - but maybe you’ll be right. Assume the service giver really wants to deliver great service.
Engage the service giver in conversation. Relationships are two-way - don’t only make it their responsibility to talk to you. “It’s a nice day, don’t you think?” “Where are you from?” “Oh! I love those earrings, they’re so becoming.” Old adage still works - you attract more bees with honey. Once you have established a relationship with the service giver - it’s more likely you’ll get the good service.
Do not put the service giver on the defensive. You know what their reaction will be - offensive. And given the state of service today - you are not guaranteed to win. Don’t for a moment they believe that you are always right. Learn good negotiation skills if you want your way, don’t shout at the person whose help you need.
Refrain from placing blame. State the facts “I’d like to return this product, it doesn’t work.” Say it in an even tone, without drama.
In fact, dump the drama entirely. We know the story sounds better if you exaggerate, and it may have felt like you were left on hold for 15 minutes and had to talk to a bazillion people, the reality is you were on hold for 5 minutes and had to repeat your story 3 times. It’s okay for you as the customer to feel that is unacceptable, but exaggerating the story actually makes you less believable to the person you are complaining to.
If you are trying to dispute an invoice or correct an error, keep accurate documentation of whom you spoke to and when and what transpired. Listen carefully (It’s a lost art.) and ask questions. Whether or not you want to do this doesn’t matter - fact is you’ll get better resolution if you are a better customer.
I’d love service to be better - and it’s my goal to transform the mediocre customer service we see in most companies today into “Exquisite Customer Care” - but in the meantime if you want better service - be a better customer! At the very least - meet the service giver half way. And who knows, maybe after having such a wonderful interaction with you, the service giver will be inspired to do better with the next person.
Caring is contagious - come on, let’s spread it around!
While we, as customers, do our fair share of griping about the poor service “out there” we wondered about how much of it we bring on ourselves.
While I’ll never make excuses for poor service, since I believe delivering Exquisite Customer Care is within anyone’s reach, I can understand why some service givers react the way they do. Some customers are downright ornery! I was inspired by the discussion to make some notes to share with you.
If you want to GET good service I suggest a number of things.
Smile. It’s a lot easier for a service giver to smile when they are being smiled at! Be friendly and open. Don’t assume you’ll get bad service - in fact those people that expect it, usually get it. Try a different approach - sometimes you might be wrong - but maybe you’ll be right. Assume the service giver really wants to deliver great service.
Engage the service giver in conversation. Relationships are two-way - don’t only make it their responsibility to talk to you. “It’s a nice day, don’t you think?” “Where are you from?” “Oh! I love those earrings, they’re so becoming.” Old adage still works - you attract more bees with honey. Once you have established a relationship with the service giver - it’s more likely you’ll get the good service.
Do not put the service giver on the defensive. You know what their reaction will be - offensive. And given the state of service today - you are not guaranteed to win. Don’t for a moment they believe that you are always right. Learn good negotiation skills if you want your way, don’t shout at the person whose help you need.
Refrain from placing blame. State the facts “I’d like to return this product, it doesn’t work.” Say it in an even tone, without drama.
In fact, dump the drama entirely. We know the story sounds better if you exaggerate, and it may have felt like you were left on hold for 15 minutes and had to talk to a bazillion people, the reality is you were on hold for 5 minutes and had to repeat your story 3 times. It’s okay for you as the customer to feel that is unacceptable, but exaggerating the story actually makes you less believable to the person you are complaining to.
If you are trying to dispute an invoice or correct an error, keep accurate documentation of whom you spoke to and when and what transpired. Listen carefully (It’s a lost art.) and ask questions. Whether or not you want to do this doesn’t matter - fact is you’ll get better resolution if you are a better customer.
I’d love service to be better - and it’s my goal to transform the mediocre customer service we see in most companies today into “Exquisite Customer Care” - but in the meantime if you want better service - be a better customer! At the very least - meet the service giver half way. And who knows, maybe after having such a wonderful interaction with you, the service giver will be inspired to do better with the next person.
Caring is contagious - come on, let’s spread it around!