We all have a bad customer service story. In fact, it’s one of the things we love to talk about. Research says that we tell from 7 to 12 people about a bad customer service experience. You know what’s sad? The research says that when we have a good experience, we only tell 4 or 5 people. So, let’s think about the reasons why we have bad customer service experiences.
- The customer didn’t get what they expected.
- Someone was rude.
- The customer feels like nobody went out of their way for them.
- Nobody listened.
- The employee showed a negative “can’t do” attitude.
So, even with all that kind of dissatisfaction, all we really need to do is stop and think about what our customers need.
- The customer needs to feel understood.
How do we show them that we understand? By nodding and maybe by repeating back to them, in our own words, the problem they are giving us.
- They need to feel welcome.
Think about the ways we can help our customers feel welcome in our workplace. Is the environment a place they would like to visit? Or is we are on the phone with them, do we have a “smile” on our voice? Help the customer feel welcome.
- Everyone needs to feel important.
But, particularly our customers do. How can you help someone feel important? Well, certainly, if you are facing a customer and you take a phone call while you are with them, that’s not making them feel important. In fact, the customer needs to feel like they are 1st with us.
- Our customer needs to feel comfortable.
Think about the ways we can help our customers feel comfortable. Certainly, giving them instructions so they know what’s going to come next would help. Also, we can make them feel comfortable by referring them to as much information as we can in as few words as possible.
Understood | Welcome | Important | Comfortable
When we make our customers feel that way, we’ll have a better interaction with them and more, they might go out and tell 4 to 5 people about just how excellent your service is.