Doing What Doesn’t Come Naturally: The Secret of Good Customer Service
I had been a holder of a convenience card for 18 years. As a corporate sales and marketing executive, I used my card extensively for business until I became a business owner and got off the road. My monthly bill dropped from $10,000 to a few hundred dollars. I always paid all balances in full each month. I am like other busy people I know, however. I sometimes sit down to pay the stack of bills five weeks after the last time, instead of every 25 days.
For my business venture, I needed some computer equipment. I called a mail order company and put it on the card. The purchase was about $7500.
The computer company called me and told me I needed to speak to the card company. When I called, the customer service rep said this purchase was out of my normal spending pattern. I thanked her for watching out for my account. Then I assured her the purchase was legitimate. I was ready to await shipment of the computer equipment I really needed.
I NO LONGER use this card because of what happened next.
The representative on the phone first asked me “Do you have the money to pay for the purchase?” The question surprised me; I assured her I did. Then she told me I could not use the card again, until I paid the next statement. I asked her if she really wanted me to use a competitive card. She responded, “You don’t do that much business with us anyway.” I was shocked, then insulted and mad.
Have I complained to the card company? NO.
Have I told many of my associates? YES.
Have I quit using the card? YES.
My real beef is emotional. It is not about the inconvenience of having to talk with the credit department to consummate the computer purchase. It is not about being unable to use the card for a few weeks one month. It is about feeling accused, about not being trusted nor valued when I had been a good and loyal customer for many years. My complaint is not about policy, but about how I felt the customer service rep “treated” me.
I am a sales professional and business consultant. I have grappled with customer service issues. I have more than average empathy for how complex it is to create successful transactions with customers at a profit. But this company failed me.
Are You Failing With Your Customers?
How many of your customers are you failing with? And what can you do about it? The answer is deceptively simple, but if you are a typical successful executive, it is not natural.
As a progressive, successful company, you and your management team have studied other great companies. You have applied their techniques, and made up your own. You have:
Said the customer is your focus.
Installed quality systems that insure customer service.
You answer your phones quickly.
You greet your guests immediately.
Your product arrives on time.
Made your stores exciting
Your merchandise is attractive.
Your prices are competitive.
Product is always in stock.
Made your employees Number One.
Empowered your employees to make decisions that satisfy your customers.
Hired NICE people, with great attitudes and leadership qualities.
Why do you fail your customers?
Research shows that customers expect customer service reps to be:
Reliable; performing the promised service dependably and accurately.
Responsive; willing to help customers and provide prompt service.
Attractive in our physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel.
Trustworthy; with knowledgeable, courteous employees who convey trust and confidence.
Empathetic; providing caring, and individualized attention.
That company failed me on the last two points. The rep did not use basic interpersonal communications skills. If she had, she would have established rapport with me. She would have explained the reasons for her questions. She would have responded appropriately to my disposition. She would have acknowledged my concerns, and so on.
I assume this customer service rep received some kind of training.
Where many companies fall short, however, is in actually and consistently showing employees HOW to achieve the type of experience the customer expects. Interpersonal skills are considered “soft” skills.
Relationships between people are murky, mysterious and uncontrollable. Better to hire inherently nice people. Then, give them a class in the importance of owning a problem, taking responsibility and listening to the customer. Finally, rely on the measurable systems in place that are supposed to protect humans from themselves.
The result is that each employee is highly aware of the importance of the customer, but is left to create his own interpretation of how to interact well with a customer.
The Solution is Deceptively Simple, and Not Natural
The deceptively simple part is: Interpersonal communications skills are objective, they can be learned, they have been around for a long time, AND THEY ARE NOT NATURAL.
We humans naturally want to talk, rather than listen. We naturally seek to be understood, rather than to understand. We naturally are more interested in ourselves than in the other person.
Skills to overcome these natural tendencies are hard to teach and harder to learn. It takes a motivated and intelligent person 22 repetitions and practice to learn a new behavior. Most classes do not transmit the skills.
And yet, there are some companies who endow their employees with these interpersonal skills and then ensure that the skills are used. These companies invest in training, and then receive an incredibly powerful and profitable result.
By improving their interactions with their customers, they keep their customers and cause them to spend more.
The Investment Is Worth It
One of my clients is in the consumer business. We invested $720 per employee to train them in interpersonal skills over 3 years (this is a fully loaded number, including management infrastructure expenses and employee time away from work). It was not easy. It took management commitment, employee time, and up-front cash to develop customized training.
In the three years after the first wave of employees had learned and were using the skills, each employee generated $3200 in directly attributable extra revenue. Customers were retained. Customers spent more. That training investment was worth it!
It Is Getting Easier to Train
Technology is providing some good news in helping to impart these not-natural, vital skills. Using multimedia equipped computers, we can now decrease the time spent learning, and provide consistent but individualized learning sessions.
Technology does not make these skills natural to humans, and it does not reduce the level of management commitment needed. Technology does reduce the cost of learning and practicing both the first and the twenty-first time. And, the results will be better because the learning is better.
Consider the Opportunity
The leverage in investing in interpersonal communications skills is greatest in organizations with large populations of employees who interact with customers.
If your company fits this profile, consider what an improvement of 1% in satisfied customers, 1% additional revenue per customer and 1% increase in employee productivity would mean to your bottom line. Companies in the entertainment and hospitality industries, for example, would find such modest improvements worth millions of increased and measurable revenues annually.
When your customers feel good doing business with you, your competition is much less compelling. A customer’s emotional decision to stay away is a killer! It is almost always due to an encounter with one of your employees who acted naturally, and did not use good interpersonal skills.