On the Road Again: New Journey w/Each Customer’s Request
by Kate Nasser | 1 Comment »
On the Road Again: New Journey w/Each Customer’s Request
You have heard them many times – customer service reps that sound scripted and robotic. Do they impress you? I doubt it. In all my customer service consulting work, I have yet to hear a single customer tell me they prefer it.
Does hearing a script make you feel confident? No. Quite the opposite. If a rep doesn’t sound like a thought-filled caring professional then you wonder what s/he can possibly do for you. Scripts make companies feel secure that they are controlling the message the customers receive. Yet each customer wants to feel the service rep is focusing just on them. The more scripted the customer service seems, the less caring it appears.
Some skeptics shoot back with customer service reps don’t get paid enough to be caring and thought-filled. My answer to the skeptics: Inspire and train reps to do an excellent job. Your customers will reward your company.
Finding the Balance. Give customer service reps the components to cover: in the greeting, for meeting the request, and in the closing and follow-up. Train and coach them to find the balance on how to deliver all of this without scripting. The return on the company’s investment is the ultimate customer experience delivered to each customer every single time.
Delivering Consistent Quality Customer Service in Diverse World. The challenge of excellence is consistency — consistent high quality not repetitious and scripted. The key to achieving this in a diverse world is to adapt! Sounds like an oxymoron? Consistency in customer service does not mean saying the same words to every customer. Right here in various regions of the USA, there are different expectations of great customer service. Things you would say in NYC you might not say to someone in Texas or in the Midwest. Moreover, different cultures vary in their customer service expectations. To deliver the ultimate customer experience, you must deliver your message in culturally acceptable way. Listen to more key concepts on this topic in video footage on this site https://katenasser.com/category/video.
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I am interested in your customer service stories. I am especially interested in any geographic or cultural differences you see as important in delivering great customer service. Please post in the comment section below. Many thanks!
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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach
Training and Keynotes for Customer Service, Teamwork, Thriving in Change
908.595.1515 (USA)
Thanks for 20 years and counting …
MA Organizational Psychology
Continuous Learner
Kate,
I definitely feel that there is a need to be culturally savvy when establishing relationships with a diverse group of customers. When heading organizations based in Chicago and then in Eastern North Carolina, it was important that the CSR responsible for accounts in different parts of the country understood the dynamics of the different cultures. My reps in Eastern NC were slower paced which would drive some of the fast-paced northerners nuts – they wanted the facts and just the facts. Conversely the CSRs in Chicago had to learn to match their pace to their accounts in the south where those customers usually wanted to “chat” before getting down to business. At times it would require adjusting the assignment of accounts to provide the customer with the right rep. Of course, once the rapport was established, the relationships between the reps and “their” accounts was awesome.
I think that the cultural differences between offshore CSRs and their US customers is what is contributing to the grumbling we hear more and more about these days regarding customer satisfaction when dealing with help lines for major companies who have outsourced their service.