People hit me with questions on customer support at the unlikeliest times. The other morning, a few men sidled up to me inside the guys’ room and began firing off follow-up questions to a customer service keynote speech I’d just added. (Despite the awkward setting, I did my best to oblige.)
I get questions about the aircraft as well–from seatmates and flight attendants alike–and even as soon as at a medical doctor’s appointment (I seek advice from an affected person revel in healthcare as nicely, so I guess that physician was taken into consideration my examination to be a hazard to brush up).
So, for this text, I’ve compiled 5 of the extra thrilling questions about customer support that have been posed to me in such contexts or sent to me through electronic mail. (If you have questions you’d want to have spoken back, let me recognize them, and I’ll get them in the next spherical.)
Dear Micah: I manipulated a massive customer support crew, and I guess I turned into born to permit things to roll off my return. But my employees can’t appear to do the same; they get so protective when customers complain that they continuously worsen the situation. Do you realize why they take it so for my part?–Confused in Cambridge
Dear Confused: Your employees use defensive language and defensive responses due to what they’ve visibly modeled growing up (as youngsters, they will have grown up looking one determined to react to the other with protective and accusatory retorts) and the way they’ve discovered to respond in their personal lives developing up (it’s pretty recurring for everyone, while a sibling accuses us of something such as breaking a toy, to snap again with, “I did now not!”)
To spoil protective conduct, employees need to be informed and shown what’s predicted of them at paintings. In my customer support schooling workshops, we work on replacing defensive phrases and terms with non-inflammatory options through information, modeling, and role-gambling. Beyond that, you could take the method I use while operating with customer service consulting clients: I assist them in broadening their “language lexicon” with discouraged phrases and phrases that may be used as substitutes.
Dear Micah: When I see my personnel making errors in painting with the general public, I’m never certain when the proper time is to correct them. Should I say something right away? Should I look ahead to an often scheduled check-in?–Tongue-tied in Tel Aviv
Dear Tongue-tied: Immediate correction is the way to go. If you wait, neither you nor the offending worker will consider the incident. (Important: You never need to correct a worker within earshot or eyesight of a client. Patrick O’Connell, the legendary proprietor of the double Five Star Inn at Little Washington, tells me he’ll employ a hidden elevator shaft proper off the eating room for worker corrections to ensure they’re now not audible or visible to clients.)
Dear Micah: We’ve had customer support trainers available in the beyond–not you, by the way–and it’s hard to sustain our momentum after the hoopla is over. Can whatever be done to provide staying energy to customer support principles?–Frustrated in Fresno.
Dear Frustrated: The value of customer service training is more desirable if it’s part of a usual customer support initiative that includes one or more maintaining rituals to keep the key factors of the movement alive. One such way I advise customer support consulting and training clients is the “Customer Service Minute.” (Despite its call, it’ll much more likely require five minutes; keep it under ten.) The Customer Service Minute happens at the beginning of every workday (or shift if you run more than one). It involves all personnel working in small agencies to kick off the workday or move at the proper word.
Each Customer Service Minute ought to be dedicated to an unmarried issue of presenting incredible service.
This normally consists of sharing examples that illustrate unmarried career precepts and reviewing helpful techniques, pitfalls encountered, and challenges overcome. Note: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has followed this method for over 30 years, each unmarried shift, to keep the entire worldwide company on the identical web page regarding provider excellence.
