It’s Your Business
- Subject: The crisis in customer service
- Essential Reading: Shop Owner, Center Manager
- Author: Terry Greenhut, Transmission Digest Business Editor
Being a better customer can often get you better service. Think about how good you feel when a customer of yours is pleasant and understanding of a situation that might not have gone very well. In my experience it just makes me want to help a whole lot more than when they come on strong and say agitating phrases like, “That’s not acceptable!”
I remember a time when my flight home out of Chicago was canceled after we were on the plane and ready to go. People were freaking out. They went running up to the counter and some even started yelling obscenities at the young lady working there, who had no fault in the matter and was trying to help rebook passengers on other flights. I was about 20th in line and could see her frustration mounting while each passenger in turn gave her a verbal beating. It got to the point where she started telling them all that there was nothing she could do about getting them out that night and that they would have to go to the ticket counter all the way back in the main terminal to make other arrangements.
When it was finally my turn to speak with the agent I said: “Wow, I really want to congratulate you on the restraint and professionalism you just demonstrated in dealing with all those angry people. It’s a rare quality indeed.”
She looked up at me with the biggest smile on her face and said, “What can I do for you?”
I said, “It sure would be great if you could find some kinda way to get me home to New York tonight.”
She replied, “Just give me a minute and let me see what I can do.”
When the agent found out that her airline had no other flights leaving that night she booked me on a competitor’s flight that was leaving in a half hour. I made it home that night and I truly believe that a lot of others didn’t. Why? Because I did the opposite of what everyone else was doing. I praised instead of yelled. I congratulated instead of belittled. Most of all I made the agent feel important and appreciated. That made her want to help me.
Want better service? Try being a better customer. Let’s explore some ways to do that:
You start your morning running late and sprint into your local coffee shop for your morning container to go. As you breathlessly place your order, you notice the server doesn’t smile at you. She utters a flat “Here you go” as she hands you the steaming cup. “Why didn’t she put the cardboard sleeve around it?” you wonder irritably as you see her move on robotically to the next customer. As you bolt for the door, hands burning, you think, “Well, she was unfriendly; when did customer service in this place get so terrible?”
Although it’s true that more and more companies give lip service to providing excellent customer relations, more often than not it just doesn’t happen. As the way our society does business has changed, customer service in general has fallen into crisis mode, and some of that unfortunately is the fault of the customers. In the case of the rude server, ask yourself this: Did you smile and make good eye contact when you first got her attention? Were you polite? Did you say “good morning?” Did you say “please” and “thank you” or did you snap your fingers and bark out some order to her? In short, how much of the bad service experience do you have to own?
Often, we get poor service because we’re poor customers. It’s a two-way street. When we’re rude or impersonal to service providers, we get rude and impersonal treatment back. This creates low expectations on both sides, which affects our next service interactions.
In other words, bad customer behavior breeds bad customer service, which breeds bad customer behavior, and so on. To break the cycle and do your part to create uplifting service, be a “service advocate” – someone who takes responsibility for uplifting other people’s experiences, especially when those other people are serving you.
The crisis we’re facing has a lot to do with the way companies think about customer service. They tend to place it in its own category of things the business must do rather than making great customer service a part of their overall culture, and that just doesn’t work when there is so much competition for consumer dollars. Customers need to feel special if you want them to remain customers. When you do things like punch in the customer’s plate number as you see the car pull up to your front door and then greet the customer by name as they walk in, that makes them comfortable and eager to do business with someone who they think cares about them. When you smile at them they might just smile back at you and set a lighter tone for the whole interaction. Although you can’t always control the customer’s feelings or emotions you can help them respond better to you by simply being friendly and demonstrating concern for their situation.
A lot of folks today, it seems, suffer from some form of depression, which shows up as anger when they get into tense or upsetting situations. They tend to project that anger on others if they think there’s even a chance they aren’t going to be well treated. Don’t be one of those people. Give others a fair chance at helping you, the same way you would want that fair chance at helping your own customers.
Try being an appreciative and considerate customer, and see whether service providers will go the extra mile to serve you better. I know I would. Remember, there is a fellow human being on the other end of your phone call, the receiving side of your email or just across the counter. Begin each interaction with a quick: “Hi. Thank you for helping me. I really appreciate it.” This takes about two seconds and can dramatically improve the mood of a service provider. How can they not want to help you after an opening line like that?
The other day I had occasion to call PayPal customer service. I had signed up for the company’s new “Here” program that allows merchants to swipe credit cards on their cell phones. Although my account was set up and working and I could key in the credit-card numbers by hand, they hadn’t sent me the card swiper that plugs into the phone. The gal who answered my call said, in her very slight but recognizable Southern drawl, “What can I do to help you?”
I said: “Thank you for taking my call. I have a little problem.”
When she replied, “You won’t in a minute,” I almost fell off my chair. I just thought that was a great response. Then she said, “Tell me what happened.” When I told her I never got my card reader in the mail she said: “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry that happened. Let me just verify your account information and I’ll get another one out to you right now. Is there anything else I can do for you today?”
On top of her being friendly and the fact that I could actually understand every word she was saying, she got right to the point, handled my problem and made it sound as though she really cared. Well done. Of course, I was being friendly and considerate myself, which I’m sure didn’t hurt my chance of receiving good treatment.
Get your service provider’s name and use it. You can make this short and friendly by first offering your name and then asking, “Who am I speaking with, please?” Or if you are face to face, simply ask, “May I know your name?” Once you know it, repeat it with a smile in your voice. This creates a personal connection and makes it much harder for a service provider to treat you like an anonymous account holder or policy number.
Be upbeat. Many service providers face customer after customer all day long. The routine can become tiresome. When an energetic and smiling customer appears, that person often enjoys special care and treatment in return. What you send out does come back. Attitudes, positive and negative, really are contagious.
Confirm next actions. Repeat what your service provider promises to do. Confirm dates, times, amounts, responsibilities and commitments. This helps you move together through the service process, catching any misunderstanding and correcting it along the way. Be sure you both understand what will happen next: what they will do, what you will do and what both parties have agreed to going forward.
When appropriate, commiserate. Sometimes service providers let their frustration show. A slow computer, a previous customer, high call volume, pressure from a manager or some unwelcome personal event may have upset them. When you hear an upset tone, be the one to soothe it. You might say: “It sounds like things are tough right now. I really appreciate your help.” This brief moment of empathy could be the only nice thing they’ve heard all day.
Show your appreciation. A sincere “thank you” is always appropriate. If your service provider deserves more, give more. A nicely written compliment can make a huge difference in someone else’s day, or even career. And who knows? The person you praise today may serve you again tomorrow or help send a customer or two your way.
Although this advice will help you get better treatment from service providers, you also can use much of it to experience more satisfaction from relationships with your customers, colleagues, friends and families as well. What goes around really does come around.
Terry Greenhut, Business Editor. Visit www.TerryGreenhut.com.
