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Listening up to the level of your customers’ expectations brings in your customers’ dollars.

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Makes sense yes? A Businessweek article http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_52/b4015405.htm entitled Listening Up – Building a Customer-Based Culture once again highlighted the importance of the ultimate connection with your customers:

1. Listen to your customers.
2. Provide action quickly.
3. Save their day to build customer loyalty.
4. Continuously train your staff to improve these customer focused skills.

Then why do companies put primary focus on uniformity of customer service that breeds non-listening and often unmemorable service? Almost every call center sounds the same, has the same scripted non-caring service, and does not build the customers’ desires to spend dollars.

The lowest cost step to customers’ dollars is to listen up to the level of their expectations and deliver unique and memorable service!

What fears are stopping most leaders from acting on this customer-focused common sense?

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1. Empowerment and creativity as a culture is dangerous. Actually, empowering innovation and creativity throughout the business is critical in this decade.  Customers do not seek uniformity in service.  They want service that matches their individual needs.  GEN Y has grown up with personalized everything. They will not be loyal to cookie cutter call centers, service, or products.
   
2. We cannot measure non-standard interactions and if we can’t measure it we will fail. Metrics do not create success or breed failure.  Metrics measure success that you first create and there are many ways to measure it.  What you should fear is believing that measurement is a key business driver.
3. If we train our people on great listening and creative problem solving, they will leave and work someplace else. Quite the opposite. Study after study shows that employees love working in customer focused organizations that excite their minds, improve their skills, and value their unique talents.
4. It will cost too much. It works for high end services and products but nowhere else. I have one word to answer that — Zappos.
5. We will lose our shirts without standardized approaches to customer service.  Hardly. Listening and communication will actually “save your shirt” and protect you from losing customers. Billions of dollars are lost every year when customers’ leave your business because of how they were treated impersonally. A customer care culture in your company empowers every team member to seize customer loyalty through unique and personalized service.

If you are still unconvinced, keep a journal for one week of all the interactions you have with companies when you are the customer. Which ones are memorable? Why? Which would you give your dollars to, go back to and also recommend to other businesses?

Then get busy creating that culture in the business, department, or team you are leading. “A penny for your thoughts” is a phrase that can remind all your team members to listen to the customers and then deliver memorable service.

I am ready to train your teams to listen up to the level of customer expectations and take the lowest cost step to bringing in their dollars!
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

On a recent Continental ExpressJet flight to  Louisville, KY (USA),  I watched a competent flight attendant service the entire plane of customers by herself.  This is common on these smaller jets and I have had good to superb service on various ExpressJet flights depending on the flight attendant.

This flight attendant’s demeanor during beverage service was cool, distant, and yes a bit impersonal.  After doing beverage service, the flight attendant sat down since the flight was only half-full.  She sat in an empty seat on the aisle across from me.

At one point she started to chat with me and her demeanor became very personable and warm.  The difference was striking.   Later in the flight she arose to do a second beverage service and her demeanor again was cool and distant.   I understood that she couldn’t chat with every customer during beverage service because of time restrictions.  Yet her smile was gone and her tone of voice was much cooler and quite different up in front of all the customers.

Because of my work, this intrigued me.  Had she been given training that told her to be cool and distant?  Or was she an introvert on the personality scale and only felt comfortable when she was speaking one-on-one?  Or is there some ‘behavioral effect’ that kicks in when people perform an official role?

Regardless of the reasons for her cool attitude during service, I offer all service professionals this simple advice:

1. Customers are loyal to great connections; cool and distant doesn’t connect.
2. Even in very formal settings, reserved is not cool and distant.  Know the difference.
3. In less formal settings, shine your warmth on the customers; the connection makes the difference.

Believe it — customers remember moments. What do you want them to remember?

A recent experience brings me to this customer service reminder.  When interacting with the customer, use the customer’s jargon not yours.   Here’s a simple true story …

A financial professional switches from selling to financial advisory firms to giving financial advice to consumers — in this case us.  In his previous job, he was speaking to people who already spoke his financial jargon.  It was daily interaction on financial products under the same regulations.  They spoke with the same jargon using spreadsheets and pie charts.  They communicated in the same way.  A perfect fit.

Now, he is advising non-financial industry professionals on their lifetime savings.  The problem: he still uses financial industry jargon and assumes we understand.  He sends us pie charts, spreadsheets, and big thick books to read.  We ask him “How much did those transactions cost us?”  We want a simple $ amount.  He sends us a paragraph with no numbers in it.

The frustration is overwhelming.  We view him as non-customer focused.  He is making life difficult.   Can you envision what is about to happen? 

What do your customers think of you and your service?   Do you use the customers’ jargon or yours?

Remember:

1. Speak the language of the customer to build trust and loyalty!
2. Ask open-ended questions that unearth what they want to achieve.
3. Listen with their listening-style.
4. Ask creative follow-up questions.
5. Use their jargon — not yours!

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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

908.595.1515 (USA)