Excellence Can Lead To Complacency
We all understand that it is the ultimate goal to deliver excellent customer service to the client. Making their experience memorable not only builds customer retention but can lead to customer expansion as well. What if I told you that providing excellent customer service can also lead to loss of customer base? An impossible concept, right? Wrong. I will explain why.
As a customer service provider it is drilled into you that we are to provide the best customer care that we can. Nothing else exists on that call but the customer. That is all fine and good and it is correct. We are to go above and beyond the customer’s expectation to provide excellent care. To reach and maintain that core of service we set goals for ourselves to consistently provide excellent service. But here is the question: Once we reach that point where do we go from there? We have hit a plateau. With no more goals to reach we become bored and go downhill from there. We become complacent. In my 15 years of customer service I have personally seen this happen. At one point it actually cost someone their job. So, what is the solution? It is a two part solution.
First, remember the basics:
1: No carry-on baggage: At this point we start allowing negative influences in. That customer had no right to yell at me. That person was so stupid. These influences will add up and then we carry that baggage to the next call. You don’t work in an airport and your customer is not a baggage handler so don’t dump your frustrations out on them. A customer will spend more money for someone else’s widget over yours if they get better service and respect. Bad experiences travel faster than a good experience. A customer will tell one to three people about their good experience with you while they will tell everyone about their bad experience with you. Even in today’s world of modern technology of advertising, word of mouth is still the most reliable. Some people will wait until they have heard or met someone who has used your widget before they decide to buy it.
2: Listen, did you hear that: There is a big difference between listening and hearing. You can hear a customer but not fully understand what their need is. Listening requires to repeat what you were told to reassure them that you are there for them. Then asking questions to further clarify the issue at hand.
3: What’s happening: Always let the customer know what is happening every step of the way. Don’t assume that something you are doing is too inconsequential for the customer to know about. This reassures the customer that their issue is being handled professionally. If you must put the customer on hold, don’t leave them alone until the solution has been found. There is a chance that they will hang up and if they were not irate before they will be when they have to call back and go through it all over again. Don’t show off by using acronyms or try using big words because if they are the type of person that does know what is being said and you get the terminology wrong you’re going to look very unprofessional and will lose all customer confidence. Just use simple every day words to explain their options to solve the issue.
4: Tone: Keep your tone of voice at an even level but don’t sound like robot. You’re not an opera singer or a base singer so don’t like go all over the octave scale. Too much up and down can be very distracting. And for all purposes smile. Yes they can hear you smile. But play it by ear. You don’t want to be smiling when you have an absolute irate caller cause that will come off as mocking. Be empathic. Learn by their tone what kind of mood they are in. This takes practice but in can be learned. You can get it down to about 3 to 5 seconds of the beginning of the call to tell what kind of person you’re dealing with. Yes this does take a bit of psychology but nothing you have to have a degree for. This skill will become invaluable to you.
The best way to keep from becoming stagnant is to set new goals for yourself. Aim higher: Consistent Perfection in customer care. Now, there is no such thing as a perfect call. Just way too many variables to deal with. No matter how good the call was it can always be approved upon be it a change of phrase, tone, or any of the above mentioned or any number of other things. While striving for consistent perfection you will find yourself taking customer service to a whole new level above excellence and you will never become complacent.