KateNasser.com

Customer Service Teams: How will yours treat customers when controversy strikes?

Leaders, how sure are you that — in the midst of controversy — your customer service teams will put the customers’ needs first?  

If your answer is “I would like to think ” or “I would hope ” read this true story.  The lessons learned will help you ensure that your customer service teams deliver the ultimate customer service — even in the midst of controversy.

Image licensed from Istock.com.

The Story

I flew into major city to deliver customer service training to a large software company. Got a taxi and arrived at a hotel just fine. Then the taxis went on strike. I asked one of the bellmen if he could reserve a car service to get me to the work site. He said, “No, you’ll have to take your chances by hailing one of the non-striking taxis out in the street.”

Strikers pounded the taxi I was in with eggs. It was very upsetting. After work I spoke with the general manager and told him what happened. Once again I asked if they could help me find a way to get to work the next morning.

He said he was shocked and embarrassed that the bellman hadn’t called a car service for me that morning. They had arranged car services for several hotel guests! He then reserved one for me for the remainder of my stay and made sure they took credit cards for that is how I would be paying.

When I saw the bellman, I asked him why he had refused to help me. He said: “Because I am in support of the taxi strike!” I asked him why he didn’t tell me that earlier and he just stared back.

In essence, he wanted to be in support of the strike without risking his job. He wanted to make it easy on himself while making it difficult for me. He chose to use me to be in support of the strike instead of putting himself on the line.

It wasn’t the bellman’s integrity that delivered horrible customer service; it was his lack of it.

---

Leaders: Ensure Your Customer Service Teams Put Customers First

I never stayed at that hotel again. Although the general manager was very customer focused he didn’t know the bellman wasn’t! How sure are you that your customer service teams are truly customer focused — even in the midst of controversy?

• Don’t hope customer service teams are customer focused. Find out!

  When you are aware of a controversy, as in the case of a taxi strike, meet with all customer service teams to openly discuss how they feel about it. Have each one of the team members role play what they will do. With active role plays, you will unearth people’s true feelings.




• Inform customers.

  Communication empowers customers. Lack of communication enables private battles. Signs in the lobby, notices in rooms, and so forth would have prompted me to speak with other customer service teams right away when the bellman turned me down. Also, the GM would have found out much sooner that the bellman was subverting customer service. Communicate and let customers help you discover the truth.




• Be very present.

  Customer service teams circulating and asking customers how they are doing show customers you all care. Proactive customer service prevents regrettable embarrassing mistakes like the bellman’s hidden resistance.




• Train customer service teams to resolve conflict.

  Not all controversy is an external event. Sometimes it’s a customer’s objection to your policies. Do your customer service teams become rigid and defensive when customers object? Scripts feed this rigidity and intensify conflict. Much better to train customer service teams to negotiate and find a satisfactory solution with and for the customers.

Assumptions and lack of interaction can kill the ultimate customer service experience. Leaders, don’t less this happen to you. Communicate & stay involved.

Question: Leaders, how will you stay involved to inspire the best without suggesting to the teams that you don’t trust them?

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Posts:
Leaders, Are You Conquering Customer Loyalty?
Psychological Barriers to Super Customer Experience

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Customer experience leaders — customer experience even in large volume is about the ultimate positive moment for each customer. Even in the face of high volume delivery challenges, super customer experience is about individual customer satisfaction and success.

When you believe and act as if customer experience is mostly about the collective picture, the individual customers become nameless and faceless. The customers feel like they’re in a cattle call — to borrow an expression from the theatre world!

Image of cattle call audition by itselea via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Customer Experience Leaders: Are You Leading a Cattle Call?

Here are true customer stories of the cattle call effect and an easy fix for each!

---

From Nameless to Human

When Alex received her flood insurance renewal notice, it arrived with a confusing letter about rate increases. She called for clarification, gave her name and how long she had been a customer. The insurance rep replied: “Ma’am there have been rate increases ….and so ma’am there’s nothing we can do.”

Alex replied, “I mentioned my name is Alex. I’ve been your customer for 15 years. Will you please use my name and treat me as your customer? And by the way I am not debating the rate increase I am just asking for clarification.”

Cattle call effect: High.

Customer experience score: Low.

Easy Fix: Address customers by name!

---

From Narcissism to Customer Focus

When the mortgage company holding Pat’s mortgage was bought out by a larger one, Pat received notice of the change. A mortgage payment was coming due and he had a question about where to send the payment. When Pat called, the rep repeatedly mentioned paying online or using a credit card over the phone.

Pat mentioned that he prefers to pay by check and just needs the address. The rep again mentioned online payment or credit card. Pat became annoyed and said: “I pay my own way — by check. Do you have an option to receive payment by check? Else I will move my mortgage even if it means refinancing through another company.” Rep then gave Pat the address to pay by check.

In this example, the mortgage company wanted Pat to do what was good for them not him.

Cattle call effect: High.

Customer experience score: Low.

Easy Fix: If you have different payment options, offer them for the customer’s choice and satisfaction. Company narcissism is not a success strategy for customer experience!

---

From Input to Output

Every year Sally goes to the same mammography center for her yearly mammogram. She is an educated health care consumer and always keeps copies of her test results for her records. She returned for her yearly mammogram and once again asked for copies of her films. The technician replied: “We’ve gone digital and everything is stored on the system now.”

Sally replied: “I would like copies for my records. Is it possible?” The technician replied, “Yes it’s possible but why would you want that? We store them on the system. Are you going to a breast specialist ….blah blah blah.”

Annoyed, Sally replied again: “I like to keep copies for my records. When can I have the films?” The technician finally told her that they would prepare them and call her w/i one week for pickup.

Cattle call effect: High.

Customer experience score: Low.

Easy Fix: Listen to the customer’s request and respond from there. In this case the technician was thinking not from the customer input but from their standard process. Better to go from customer input to output than from standard process to a cattle call response.

---

Large organizations do not have to deliver impersonal cattle call customer experience. Brands have proven for years that they can win the hearts and loyalty of their customers when they focus on the customers.

Go from cattle call to WOW
with individual care and people skills in every aspect of the customer experience.




Image of cattle call by Arse_Shoots via Flickr Creative Commons License.

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Other helpful customer experience posts:
Super Customer Experience: Like a Shiny New Car!
Customer Experience: Loyalty Through Narcissism?
Customer Experience: People Skills for Profitable Connection

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

People skills Twitter Chat TOPIC: #PeopleSkills for No Regret.

WHEN: Sunday May 5, 2013 10AM EDT/7am PDT.

Here’s a time converter to assist all of you around the globe in converting 10am EDT to your local time.

Background on This Sunday’s Chat

Jackie Hooper, author of The Things You Would Have Said, moved me with her book. She received thousands of letters from people who wanted to express regret for things they had said or loving things they wish they had said but didn’t. It got me thinking about the value of reversing the regret process and considering our words before we speak.

Image designed by: Kimb Manson Graphics Design for Kate Nasser. All rights reserved.

Shout Out of Gratitude

Jackie Hooper has agreed to join in this Sunday’s chat. Thank you Jackie for your research, your hard work, your book, and your interest in this Sunday’s chat.

Join People Skills Twitter Chat Sun. May 5th ’13 10am EDT/7am PDT.

There are many aspects to this topic. My mind is full of questions like …

• What benefit does someone get from saying hurtful words?
• Why do people take so long to express regret for hurtful words?
• How does expressing regret make you feel?
• How does expressing regret to those you hurt make them feel?
• Where does emotional intelligence play into expressing loving words?
• How can we learn to suppress hurtful words and speak with more care?
• Is it more acceptable in our society to say very loving words or hurtful words? Why?
• How can you make it more OK to express truly caring words at work?
• People who often speak lovingly ___________________________.
• Which people skills build bonds for caring interaction?
• What have you learned personally from regret?
• Is it tougher to regret hurtful words you’ve said or loving words you haven’t said?
• Does delaying apology/regret make it tougher to accept?
• What brings people to hurt those that never hurt them i.e. bullying?
• Why do people stand by silently when they witness verbal bullying?
• Would regret come more quickly if we spoke up?
• How can people skills help prevent regret?

We won’t be able to discuss all of these questions and thus I will make a final selection before the chat. Tell me which ones you like the most or suggest other questions in the comments section below!

---

Hope you will all join in the #PeopleSkills Twitter chat to explore People Skills for No Regret, this Sunday May 5, 2013 10am EDT/7am PDT.

Everyone is welcome! We have only one rule in People Skills Twitter Chat: Respect for all even when we disagree.

---

TIP: If you have never been in a Twitter chat, you may find it helpful to log on to Tweetchat.com, enter hashtag #peopleskills, and sign in to your Twitter account. Tweetchat will insert the hashtag automatically for you and you will see all the tweets on one screen. Other tools available are Hootsuite.com and TweetDeck.com.

I am the founder and host of the chat and will be happy to answer any questions you have in advance: Email me.


Chat with you this Sunday May 5, 2013 10am EDT in #PeopleSkills Twitter Chat – People Skills for No Regret.


Until then, as always, I wish you bonds of happiness and success!

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Super customer service has little room for regret. What we say to customers and how we say it leave lasting impressions. We can wound them with scars that last forever or we can use caring people skills to avoid laying an egg.

Image licensed from Istock.com

In tough moments with customers, how can we speak with great people skills instead of later regretting and hoping for that elusive second chance?

We can take a lesson from everyday life!

Author Jackie Hooper has written a wonderful book, The Things You Would Have Said, compiling letters from people who regret having said bad things or regret not having said caring words.


As I watched the feature on the book on CBS Sunday Morning and heard people reading the words of regret for what they said or hadn’t said, I immediately thought how we could use this lesson for super customer service.


Responding with care instead of defensively reacting is much easier IF we are thinking about the after effects. Ask yourself what you wish you’d said to a customer before you lost them — just as Jackie asked people to do for those they treated poorly.


Instead of regretting, envision what you would write in an “I wish I’d said” letter of regret and say that instead of the defensive snips. Super customer service requires people skills that deliver care even in the toughest moments!

Super Customer Service People Skills – No Regret!

• Find empathy by imagining regret.

  The stress relief you feel by snapping at a customer is short lived. It is quickly followed by regret and feeling for the customer as they receive your outburst. Reverse the regret process and feel the empathy from the beginning. If you feel stuck, adapt don’t attack.




• Imagine the caring you not the ego-controlled you.

  Many regrets are born of the need to be right, the need to be better than, the need to be selfish. In other words, regrets are born of the ego.

  Imagine yourself being great in service not needing to be right. Imagine yourself sharing control not having control.

  Those who deliver super customer service, revel in helping others to succeed and thus they succeed. Their desire to care overrides their ego. They are humble enough to learn from the customer and don’t feel humiliated by the customer. They don’t say things to customers that they will regret for they envision receiving that very same care.




• Prevent regret.

  Treat customers well the first time else there may not be a second time. Defensive thoughts and communication lead to regret. Stay open. Show empathy. Explore the customer’s view. Empathy doesn’t mean you agree. It means you matter, we matter, this matters! Through empathy you find how to wow each customer with care.

---

The old saying, the customer’s always right, has led some to rebel and claim it isn’t true. From there, they justify confronting the customer and saying things to prove the customer wrong.


The debate about that adage is out-of-date and quite worthless. What we all need to remember is that we may not get a second chance from customers we’ve treated badly. Think about it: Why would anyone pay money to be treated with impatience, rudeness and disrespect?


Empathize, explore, and stay open to customers’ views. Live no regret about customers for there may be no chance to write that letter and get them back.


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Other Super Customer Service Posts:
Super Customer Service: Use Great People Skills to Deliver vs Defend
Customer Service Defined to Be Unforgettable
Super Customer Service: Be a Buoy
Customer Service People Skills Create Profitable Connection!

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Super Customer Experience: Honor the Customer

Image by: J-Rod85 via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Businesses that deliver a super customer experience, do so with actions that honor the customer as a person.  As a business owner or leader, if you think of what you consider to be a super customer experience — you will find that it honors you.

Here’s a true super customer experience story from Twitter connection Jeff Allen, @bjaj1:

---

The year was 1999 and I was rewarding myself for two good years of sales performance with a new car — a Chrysler 300M – their newest model. I purchased from a well respected local dealership – Hayes Chrysler in Larenceville, GA.  After the purchase I started having new car model issues with several annoying trips to service.  The dealership was responsive and persistent in resolving the issues.  Ultimately a computer upgrade in that model eliminated all the issues!

I took it in for a routine maintenance 3 months later, I mentioned to them that something didn’t seem right with the paint job. It looked cloudy not crisp and clean like the showroom model.  He connected me directly with the factory rep who looked at the car and said yes indeed there was a problem.

He offered 3 options: A free bumper to bumper 100K warranty or a new paint job. I told the rep I wasn’t interested in the warranty and was impressed with the offer of a paint job yet wanted to hear the 3rd option.  The rep said … or a trade in. 

I told him I didn’t want to take a hit on 3 month old car with 13K miles.  The rep quickly said … you won’t take a hit.  There’s no  cost.  A new car for the one with the defective paint job! I said it’s a deal, shook his hand, and thanked him for taking such good are of a me.

---

Super Customer Experience: Honor the Customer …

• With trust.

  The rep acted with trust that the customer was reporting the truth. He didn’t suggest that the customer had done something to make the paint job cloudy.

• With integrity by owning the problem.

  When customers buy a shiny new car like the one in the showroom, deliver that — not a repainted one. It honors the trust the customers gave when they bought a shiny new car from you. It also says to the customer: You deserve the reward you were giving yourself — a shiny new car. Now for 14 years he has felt that Chrysler also honored and rewarded him. He has told this story to everyone and now I tell it to you.

• With ease.

  When a customer is disappointed for any reason, make it easy for them to voice their views and easy for them to get and be happy with a remedy.

When business leaders of non-luxury products and services hear these true stories, they often think it applies only to high end markets. Not true.

All customers expect to receive the same quality as they were shown and sold. Chrysler didn’t upgrade Jeff to a more expensive model. They simply lived up to what he was shown and sold. No excuses, no mistrust, no tap dance of conditions.

Super customer experience is not complicated when core beliefs of trusting and honoring the customer emerge consistently with authenticity and ease. Ask your teams, how do we honor the customer and how can we do it better? And watch the super customer experiences happen before the customers’ eyes!


What super customer experience story will you share with us to continue the learning?


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Posts:
Customer Service Defined to Be Unforgettable
Customer Experience: People Skills Create Profitable Experience

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Customer Service Recovery: People Skills Deliver Care Not a Defense!

There is one persistent human temptation that threatens customer service recovery — the urge to defend in difficult moments.

Grateful for image by: Craig1Black via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Through 25 years of working with customer service and technical support teams, I have seen it happen over and over. Instead of delivering care, the defensive phrases come out and enrage customers further.


What concerned me recently was the advice of a customer service consultant in a blog post about diplomacy in customer service recovery. 

I was alarmed when I read her #1 tip — to tell the customer this (defensive) statement:

“I’m trying to help you.”

Customer Service Recovery – Deliver Don’t Defend!

People skills allow you to deliver great customer recovery with definitive caring statements like “I will help you” not defensive reactions like “I’m trying to help you.”


When customers here the phrase “I’m trying to help you”, they hear the defensive suggestions:

• I’m doing my best …
• Things take time …
• You’re being unreasonable …
• You’re not treating me well …

Even a positive tone of voice cannot turn the phrase trying to help you into a great customer service recovery statement. It casts doubt over whether you care and whether you can help. Doubt sinks recovery.


How can you overcome the urge to defend?

1. Be aware of your own frustration level. The more frustrated you become, the greater the chance you will reply defensively!
2. Pause your conversation every time the customer frizzles. The pause produces an empathetic response instead of a defensive reaction.
3. Picture yourself at the finish with a satisfied customer — because you cared and helped.

---

Even if the customer continues to frizzle, stay in the moment of care. Don’t lapse into defensiveness. It makes it tougher on them, tougher on you, and leaves a terrible lasting impression — even if you resolve the issue.

You and your entire technical support and customer service teams can handle the most difficult moments with care and skill. I am here to help with customized workshops.

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Posts:
The Emotionally Intelligent Mindset for Super Customer Experience
5 Things to Think w/Rude Customers for Customer Service Recovery

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Customer experience: What comes to mind when you hear that phrase? What about your customers? When they hear the phrase, customer experience, what do they picture?

What do they imagine you doing when delivering super customer experience to them? Is their image the same as yours?

Have you asked them? Do you truly value the customer perspective or just value their money? Tough words, I know. It’s not a criticism.

It is an experienced-based heartfelt reminder that

company narcissism doesn’t breed customer loyalty.

Customer Experience: Win Loyalty Through Narcissism

Would you believe this if it were a news headline?

Or would you sooner give your trust and loyalty to a company who asks you what is important in customer
experience rather than designing it from their perspective?





In a recent customer experience CX 404 podcast with Andrew Maher, he described this situation:

One of his customers, a large financial institution, has a big customer experience center to which they never bring customers. They use it for designing and testing the customer experience. They also have a double digit negative Net Promoter Score (NPS) and are pleased that theirs is higher than all their competitors.

It sounds as if they believe it’s impossible to wow the customer. This is a very limiting belief. It drives companies to give up reaching out and simply live in the comfort of their own views. They then make this limiting belief come true.


Don’t get trapped. You can wow the customers when you involve them and think from their perspective.

• Think we not us vs. them.

  Search every aspect of your business to see where us vs. them has created narcissism. For example, are you living the popular yet misguided mantra “employees first, customers second”? There is no need for ordinal thinking here. Replace it with: “We the entire company serve the customer! Inspire with it. Lead with it. Live it.




• Realize that digital is a people connector.

  Search every aspect of your online interaction with customers from your website portal, to online account statements, and social media. Does your digital design and interaction reflect the customer perspective or mostly your company perspective?




• Customers’ views are not that random.

  The views are different from yours because they aren’t you yet they are solid not fickle.




• Seek and destroy the silo effect.

  Internal silos foster narcissism. Large organizations have many departments. When those departments live as silos and work within themselves, it creates narcissism. Many companies are breaking these silos through the chief customer officer (CCO) function. It’s a great start. Yet it can fail if the culture doesn’t support it. Seek and destroy the silo effect!

---

Grateful for above featured image by Peter-Ashley via Flickr Creative Commons License.


The trap of narcissism isn’t a new customer experience problem. Computer applications’ design often skipped user input. It caused major trouble, plenty of expensive redesigns, and lots of mutinies. It undermined respect and loyalty to the IT departments and left an unfortunate legacy that affects many IT organizations to this day.


Conquer the narcissistic urge with the belief that you can and will succeed with the customer — not just with their money.

Regardless of the size of your organization, you can wow ‘em and win their loyalty. Think of them. Involve them. Deliver from their perspective and they will come — and come back.


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Posts:
15 Essential Beliefs to Deliver a Super Customer Experience
Leaders, Are Your Customer Service Limits Actually Roadblocks?
Leaders, THE Threat to Super Customer Experience

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Leaders, how is customer service defined in your organization? In Wikipedia, you will find customer service defined as the provision of service before, during, and after a purchase.

Customer service defined this way (as an operation) inspires few to the heights of service greatness. It does lead to structured processes, procedures, scripts, and metrics that leaders often mistake for customer service.  As a result these procedures don’t produce unforgettable customer service.

To deliver unforgettable customer service, start with this simple effective definition:

Image designed by: Kimb Manson Graphics for Kate Nasser. All rights reserved.

Build procedures, processes, employee training, teamwork, online and self-service portals around this definition — delivering knowledge with care.

How far-reaching is customer service defined this way?

Does it apply to …

• All industries? For example, Finance, Retail, Healthcare, Legal, Pharmaceuticals, Utilities, Hospitality, Dining, Airlines, Education, Bridal, Home Repair … Yes.
• Help Desks and Technical Support?  Yes.
• Service to employees within an organization? Yes.
• Service to external customers of an organization? Yes.
• Business-to-business and consumer customer service? Yes.
• Online customer service? Yes.
• Self-service portals? Yes.
• Does it work for business, non-profit, academia, and government? Yes.

 

Why Does It Matter How Customer Service is Defined?

A definition held in the mind affects behavior.

If your organization thinks of customer service as a department, you won’t see the cross teamwork needed to deliver great customer service.

If your organization thinks of customer service as an operation, you won’t create strong customer relationships through empathy and care. Even if you develop them through the sales reps, you will see those relationships decline when service doesn’t include care.

Many in the customer service profession define customer service is an attitude of caring. Yet those in the operational aspect often find that definition lacking. They say: “Where is the delivery?” You must deliver something!

This brings us to customer service defined as:

Knowledge delivered with care to make life easy for the customer!


You can modify this customer service definition to reflect your business. For example,

Knowledge and solutions delivered with care to make life easy for the customer.

Knowledge and solutions delivered with care to make it easy for the customer to be productive.

Knowledge and solutions delivered with care to make it easy for the customer to be profitable.

The key components to include are delivery (of something) and the aspects of care and ease. They build mutual bonds of success for your organization and your customers!


Question: In your organization, is customer service defined to take you far and high? I am your resource and very interested to hear your perspective.


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Customer Service Post:
Super Customer Service Experience: Picture It, Lead It, Create It!

©2009-2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

What does every customer want?  Most customer service professionals reply “help”.   I say customers want a buoy!  In fact, customers want us to be their buoy.

Customers are trying to survive and thrive. They reach out to us especially when they are in trouble. They don’t want help. They want to float to greatness. Will you be their buoy?

Image by: Mike Baird via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Customer Service: Be the Customer’s Buoy!

What does a buoy do?

• Keeps others floating high!
• Confidently stays afloat even in the toughest seas.
• Willingly takes the waves and rocks back up.
• Beams guidance in tight spots.
• Is always there and ready.

 

How can you be the customer’s buoy every day?

• Begin each day with an inventory of your talents and attributes.  To be a constant customer service buoy, you must believe in yourself.  Confidence, not arrogance, sustains others.  Make a list of every great customer service attribute you have. Read it at the beginning of your shift, on your breaks, and at the end of your shift. This reminds us just how important our behavior is to customers.




• Start work over with each interaction. Life is full of stress that can rock you off your inspiration.  To counter this, take a very slight pause before you start giving customer service. It puts outside stress – outside — where it belongs.  You can’t be the customer’s buoy if you are thinking of your own problems.  Surprising benefit: Buoying others buoys your spirits too!




• Adapt to each personality. Whether the customer is a driver, an analytic, an expressive, or an amiable type, adapting to their style keeps you all afloat.  This flexibility allows you to rock with the waves instead toppling over.  Make life easy for the customer by touching the heart of who they are. They will have no need to pull you under. You are their customer service buoy! Their satisfaction and loyalty soars. You strengthen your ability to adapt and thrive.




• Connect, connect, connect. To be a buoy you must be connected to others. Without connection, you aren’t a buoy.  Connect to them by listening from their perspective.  Connect into their true need instead of focusing mostly on the procedure. Buoy them with your knowledge and care.  You won’t have the answer to everything. You can show them you care enough to find the answers. This makes you an incredible customer buoy!




• Give your ego a relaxing vacation. Do you think this contradicts the first suggestion about confidence?  It doesn’t.  Confidence comes from constant learning not from the egotistical desire to be right.  Be confident in your knowledge and humble in giving it.  Be humble enough to learn what the customer teaches you about their world and confident to use it for them. Your confident humility buoys customers. When your ego takes a relaxing vacation, your heart can beat more effectively for the customer.




• Celebrate your buoyancy. Do a virtual happy dance at the end of each interaction.  We learn and repeat what we celebrate. Celebrate individually and as a team. Instead of griping about tough situations with customers, heave a big smile of pride for being a customer buoy in rough seas. Your buoyancy will sustain yourselves and the customers.

Leaders, What Must You Do?

Simply put, give daily doses of customer service inspiration.   Customer service leaders who spend more time inspiring realize far greater success than those who focus mostly on the details.  Leaders, here are special be a buoy leadership tips for you.

If you have questions about these tips, I am your customer service leadership buoy! See you on the high seas to share the big waves, keep you floating high, and celebrate your buoyancy and success.

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Post:
15 Essential Customer Service Beliefs for Super Customer Experience
People Skills Create Profitable Customer Service Connections

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Customer service excellence is feed by essential beliefs that we live and breathe everyday. When Desk.com invited me to write a post on excellence in customer service and sales, I jumped at the chance because actions follow beliefs.

Our beliefs shape every experience a customer has with us — face-to-face, on the phone, in chat, and even through our websites!

I know this post will help you, your teams, and most importantly your customers.

Essential Beliefs for Excellence in Customer Service & Sales

Here’s two of the beliefs.

• Customers cannot observe our intentions.
• A customer’s trust is an invitation for a human bond.

Read more > 15 essential beliefs to deliver superior customer service and sales experience.


And of course add your essential customer service beliefs to this list of fifteen!


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Image licensed from Istock.com.

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

People Skills Twitter Chat: “Your Human Needs as Customers”. WHEN: Sunday Feb. 24, 2013 at 10AM ET/3pm GMT. Hashtag #peopleskills.

Image designed by: Kimb Manson Graphics Design for Kate Nasser.

As a customer, are you treated well? The way you love to be treated?

Or do you find yourself saying: great customer service is dead?

Research continues to show that at least 80% of customers leave a company because of how they were treated! Some studies show 90%. Of course, this impacts the companies.

This also impacts you, the customers.

• Added stress in your life
• Sudden time pressures to find another provider
• Special events made far less special w/ bad service
• Impact on your assets — e.g. home repair
• Challenge to your own behavior – do you want to be goaded into anger?
• Financial fights to recoup your loss
• and more.

We will explore How You Want to be Treated as a Customer in the People Skills Twitter chat this Sunday Feb. 24, 2013 10am ET/3pm GMT. This is your chance to help companies in every industry understand how to treat customers well!

---

People Skills Twitter Chat – Your Human Needs as Customers

Join us this Sunday Feb. 24, 2013 at 10am ET/3pm GMT on Twitter #peopleskills to explore …

• How do you want to be treated when you are the customer?
• How has customer service changed over the years? Better, Worse, Different?
• Do you think most customers want the same thing?
• How has technology affected how you are treated as a customer?
• What wows you when you are the customer?
• How does “wow” affect you?
• What makes you angry as a customer?
• How does being treated badly affect you personally?
• When is outstanding customer service most important to you?
• … and much more!

---

We have only one rule in People Skills Twitter Chat: Respect for all even when we disagree. Everyone is welcome!


TIP: If you have never been in a Twitter chat, you may find it helpful to log on to Tweetchat.com, enter hashtag #peopleskills, and sign in to your Twitter account. Tweetchat will insert the hashtag automatically for you and you will see all the tweets on one screen. Other tools available are Hootsuite.com and TweetDeck.com.

I am the moderator of the chat and will be happy to answer any questions you have in advance: Email me.


Chat with you this Sunday Feb. 24, 2013 in People Skills Twitter Chat – Your Human Needs as Customers. Hashtag #peopleskills.


Until then, as always, I wish you bonds of happiness and success!

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Leaders customer service is change. Every aspect, every moment, is change in action.

When customers call, it is to change the current situation to a more satisfying one. When they make a purchase, they use it to change something in their work or life.

Does your organization think customer service is primarily change?

Featured Image by: ClaraDon

Leaders Customer Service Is Change!

Do your customer service teams see themselves as change agents?

Do they know how to create change on every customer interaction?

Do they engage in cross teamwork to effect each change?

Do you lead and engage them to create change with each customer?

………………… OR …………………..


Have you given them the impression that the goal is status quo?

Follow the rules

Read the script

Make sure the customer follows the procedures

Handle each call as prescribed

Escalate any exceptions (changes) to management

How and why does this misstep start?

Seeing change as chaos triggers an exaggerated need to stabilize.

Desire to stabilize creates rigid standards of control instead of valuable guidelines.

Standards then become something to maintain.

The primary focus is then, mistakenly, on maintaining the status quo.

Harmful Impact

It undermines employees’ sense of urgency to the customer — critical to service excellence and customer loyalty.

It dampens employee initiative, learning, and motivation to serve.

It leads an organization to narcissism. Employees focus of company preservation instead of customer satisfaction as the path to company success.

When the company vision is self-preservation customers leave.

Leaders Think Balance Not Stability!

Seek balance in change not stability in maintaining the status quo.

Build balance by adapting to great inputs from the customer.

Apply balance during change to prevent fatal chaos.

Achieve balance around a central truth – customer service is all about change.

---

Leaders customer service is forward not back. It’s momentum and change and customers must feel it from your agents. Customers don’t come to maintain the status quo; they leave when you do.

Inspire employees to care. Train them to unearth and fulfill customers’ wishes. Lead and empower them to be the customers’ change agents not just customer service agents. The safety of status quo is an illusion.

Inspired empowered agents with a sense of urgency to effect change create powerful bonds of customer loyalty — and your company success.

Discussion: What else feeds this desire for control & status quo? I welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Posts:
Leaders, Win Customer Loyalty on the Move!
Capture Impact Behind Customers Feelings – Coming and Going!

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. M.A. Organizational Psychology. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Customer experience loyalty is born of satisfying customers especially during intense need. When customers are on the move, their needs are peaking. Businesses who meet those needs — in the moment and on the move — win their loyalty.

Whether the customer is a growing company on the move or individuals physically on the move, those who make their journey easy and successful win customer experience loyalty.

Business Leaders: Win Customer Experience Loyalty on the Move!

4 Reasons We Win Customer Experience Loyalty on the Move

• Feeling of Need.

  When people are on the move, everything around them is on the move. The unknown is greater than the known. Products and services that turn unknown into known, relieve stress, deliver comfort, and win customer loyalty.

  Whether it’s one of many mobile apps that deliver instant answers or consulting services that move everyone past the roadblocks to success, meeting intense need on the move wins customer experience loyalty!

• Desire for Freedom from the Ordinary.

  Although being on the move can be scary, it is simultaneously freeing and exciting. Customers value products and services that move them past the dreary and mundane.

  They are loyal to what uplifts and carries them forward when they want to move from feeling ordinary to living the extraordinary!

• Image of Value and Readiness.

  In a competitive business world, on-the-move information and solutions do more than solve problems. They make the businesses who deliver the information and solutions on the move seem ultra valuable and worthy of loyalty.

  Products and services that give businesses this readiness win loyalty by enabling them to win their customers’ loyalty. Social media’s success is partly driven by this momentum. It facilitates more connections to resources, experts, and answers enabling more success — on the move!

• Need for Loyal Servants.

  When we are on the move with our customers, we show them our loyalty. As the saying goes, “we have their back”.

  Our products and services are customers’ loyal servants — that build their loyalty to our businesses. This takes relationships with our customers from brief to bonded and from transactional to transformational.

---

Movement creates risk and the intense need to handle it. Whoever meets that intense need builds intense trust — the precursor to customer experience loyalty. Businesses in trouble become loyal to those who move them out of trouble. Consumers become loyal to products and services that meet their personal and professional needs on the move.

When we travel the customers’ journeys and meet their needs, they have no need to look elsewhere. When we are their loyal servants, we move their minds from “will they be there for us?” to “of course they will be there for us!”

What journey is your customer on and how will you meet their intense need — on the move? I am here to help you create that loyalty with your customers.

We will turn the risk of movement into the momentum of success!

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Post:
Super Customer Experience: Feelings Aren’t Random

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Super customer service experience is about positive feelings but leaders grouse “we can’t build a business on the randomness of feelings.”  Well in super customer experience, feelings are not random. We just need to look in the right place.

The feelings are behind the impact – coming and going!

Capture the Feelings Behind the Impact!

Customers come for one of two desired feelings: ease their pain and/or experience gain. What we do results in one of two feelings for the customers — positive or negative.

• The Impact of Their Problem.

  Instead of getting caught up in just the details the customers speak, we need to hear the impact of their problem or request. When a network is down and the customer can’t do their work, it’s the impact of this void that causes the feelings. Understand the impact and we capture the feelings that tell us how to deliver a super customer experience.




• The Impact of Our Approach.

  At every connection with the customers, our approach — conversation, empathy, processes, design, decisions, and actions — affect the customers’ pain or gain. When we first understand the impact of their problem, we can choose appropriate actions for a positive impact and super customer experience.




• The Impact of Previous or Repeated Trouble.

  It’s easy to deliver a super customer experience when there has been previous or repeated trouble — if we hear the feelings of frustration behind the impact. The customers are craving relief from pain and confusion; the relief we give is amazingly positive!




• The Impact of Heart-Based Service.

  If we live a narcissistic culture and focus on our success, our approach and connection often increases the customers’ pain and reduces their gain. As we focus on our procedures, we leave them stuck in frustration and far from the gain they seek. As we push self-service to reduce costs, we alienate those who need interaction to work with us. As we ignore their suggestions for improved service, we tell them that our view is more important than their needs. From this we lose them to the competition who sees the pain and void we left behind.

  If instead we approach every aspect of customer experience with a culture of heart-based service, we meet their expectations by relieving their pain or delivering a gain. We earn their trust, gratitude, and repeat business. From the heart, never fails with customers.

  [A special thanks to executive coach Lolly Daskal for the phrase "heart-based". She inspires thousands around the globe with her heart-based leadership programs and her weekly leadfromwithin chat on Twitter.]

---

Leaders often ask me: What is the one thing that everyone in the organization should do to deliver super customer experience?

Listen for the feelings behind the impact and take the approach that relieves the pain and delivers the gain.

This year, I will have many workshops and sessions on this very topic. Join in the learning and receive the gains!

---

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Posts:
Free Your Mind to Give Superior Customer Service in Difficult Moments
Leading Superior Customer Experience: Turn Off the Power

©2013 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Various comments on my last post — Don’t Fire the Customer, Fire Yourselves! — showed that many use the phrase “fire the customer” as a display of power.

In the aftermath of abusive customers or the challenge of clients who constantly change their minds, some leaders and business owners use that damaging phrase to validate the organization’s position and use it to re-motivate frustrated and demoralized teams.

Yet, the power playing approach leaves a trail of trouble for the teams, the customer service culture, and the company’s reputation and brand.

Turn Off the Power for Superior Customer Experience!

Power struggles establish the dynamic as right vs. wrong.

Customer experience is about perspective and connection.

---

Power words, like “firing”, conquer & crush.

Customer experience is about awareness, empathy, uplift, and success.

---

Power-based motivation like “employees first, customers second” sets up a win/lose mentality.

Superior customer experience is about win/win!

“When you lead and serve for power, get ready for a power failure!” There is no greatness in either/or.

Turn off the power struggles, power words, and power-based motivation. If you want to use power, give it to your customers to give you free feedback — communicated with basic respect.

Turn on the listening and learning. Turn on creative exploration for effective problem solving. Turn on innovative thinking for customer satisfaction. Turn on the honest diplomacy to set limits in abusive situations. Turn on the joy of delivering superior customer service.


Lead a culture of excellence for improved performance based in continuous learning — not in power.

How will you ignite the customer service greatness in your organization?

I welcome your perspective in the comments section below. And I am ready to help you the way I have helped countless others in the last 23 years.


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

Related Posts:
Leadership success: Think Balance Beam Not Mountain Top
Super Customer Experience: Customers & Us in Harmony

©2012 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

---

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.