Customer Service―Thinking Beyond the Job
Customer Service, Getting it Right the First Time
You've probably heard about first impressions. Well it's the same for customers. What they get, and what they see the first time―makes the biggest impression. And it stays with them for a long time. Sometimes forever. The key is to know your customers. Not only will this make you better equipped to handle questions, but the effort will show that you care.
According to Dr Jack Lewis and Adrian Webster, authors of Sort Your Brain Out, the gold of customer service and customer experience is,
fixing the mistakes, the problems, the ‘grit’, the hiccups, the gripes and the average. And, fixing them first.
Customer service is about things working. People want things to be easy. Customer service training shows how to minimize disappointments and build positive surprizes. It's about doing the right thing and doing it right. That's why I wrote the book Super Service published by McGraw-Hill.
Yes, You Know Your Job―I Expect That
Customer service is about thinking beyond the job. Customers expect us to know our job, what they want is that we think beyond the job. If they have a problem, they want it fixed as soon as possible. As Theodore Roosevelt said,
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care
How do we show customers that we care? One way is to personalize your service. Use their name; be curious and interested in their situaton. How about a hand-written note? That is huge in today's digital world. Here's five more ways to show that you care:
- Check in with customers and follow up on services you have given
- Take care of the small stuff and show your commitment to excellence
- Don't get too caught up in policies and red tape
- Recognize opportunities to provide outstanding service
- Go above and beyond to make difficult situations right.
A Few Small Things That Destroy Customer Service
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. He once said,
I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.
Customer service is everywhere all the time
