Customers keep your business alive.
There are no alternatives. This is common
sense to any business owner, big or small.
Providing quality customer service
comes naturally to some, must be learned
(often the hard way) by
others, and is sometimes
misunderstood,
especially
when things are
going good when the
bottom line is black
and not many customers
are complaining about the product
and/or service you provide.
Here is a list of successful practices you
can use to gauge your knowledge and
understanding of quality customer service.
This list is based on more than 20 years of
my research and experience, that of others
in the field, and the experiences of those
seeking customer service from a variety of
companies and organizations:
* The Golden Rule does not work well in
customer service. By treating others the
way you want to be treated focuses on your
needs, not on the customers' needs. A better
rule is the "Platinum Rule." It states,
"Treat the customers the way they want to
be treated." Their needs are very probably
different than yours.
* What are the customers' needs? Here
are just a few:
1. The need for courteous service. This
can be in the form of a professional greeting
on the phone or in person. Giving customers
brief eye contact, positive voice tone
and I'm-paying-attention-to-you body language
when they enter your business can
pay huge dividends. And you've got about
10 seconds to do it. Customers want to feel
welcome. Telephone courtesy means
answering quickly with a positive voice
tone, giving the name of your business and
asking, "How may (not can) I help you?"
2. The need for a positive transaction.
Customers expect you to help them, answer
their questions, guide them through the
transaction, and make them feel this is time
and money well spent. If they are unhappy,
they will vent their anger and frustration
later when they tell their friends, neighbors
and coworkers how awful you were.
Ironically, they may not tell a soul how
good you were. One more important note:
Draw a mental line in the sand on one side
of which is quality customer service - the
"helping" side - and on the other is the
"rescue" side. You can never rescue a customer
from himself or herself. Whenever
you try, you may wind up being berated and
the victim of a lose-lose situation. Did you
ever try to help (read "rescue") someone by
helping him or her well beyond what they
expected? It's OK to exceed customers'
expectations within reason, but if you go too
far, it can cause you grief. An example
would be to extend their credit far beyond
your normal boundaries, and they skip anyway.
3. The need for acceptance. It is the
responsibility or your business or organization
to treat all customers fairly and equitably.
We all have certain core values that
tell us what is right and what is wrong. So
do your customers. Learn to accept and
respect the customer's point of view, not to
challenge it. It is better to keep your mouth
closed and your ears and eyes open, to allow
progress in any transaction. A good rule to
follow is: Never be surprised at what you
see and hear. Focus on the facts and the
customer's needs, not on their personality.
* Every customer transaction has two
sides: a business-need side and a personalneed
side. People have feelings. Customers
are people. If you fail to respond to a customer's
feelings, the transaction may fail.
Here's a tip:Whenever a customer mentions
something personal - negative or positive
- that is important to them during a
transaction, remember the essence of what
they said and end the transaction with a
positive comment, e.g., "I'm glad you are
feeling better," "I hope your car gets fixed
OK," or simply, "It sounds like things will
improve."
* All companies and organizations must
have quality internal customer service
before attempting to implement or improve
quality external customer service. I taught a
customer relations class at Truckee
Meadows Community College for 10 years.
One of the handouts I created was a quote
from me that often generated much discussion:
"Companies and organizations have
more to fear from poor internal customer
service than from any level of external customer
service." Quality internal customer
service means that all frontline employees
who deal with customers have the resources,
support, empowerment, effective lines of
communication, management respect and
training to do their jobs efficiently and
effectively. It is a fact in customer service
that a mistreated employee will mistreat
customers.
Finally, remember that quality customer
service is "the business of the business."
Practice it every second of the day to ensure
your business stays successful.
Ron Tillotson (performimp@aol.com)
established the first formal customer service
training for Sierra Pacific Power Co. in 1979,
has custom-designed and taught customer
service classes for several Nevada organizations,
and has held several positions that
required him to provide quality frontline customer
service.
