How to stay in tune with our customers

Staying in tune with our customers requires service providers to communicate effectively, with the proper usage of inquiry and advocacy. When service providers are able to listen intently to understand what customers are trying to say, with respect, and are conscious about their inner voices  that suspend judgement, they will be in better position to connect with customers. However, when service providers and customers come together simply to advocate different points of view, the outcome is likely to be disastrous.

How do we get our message across in a conversation? There are 4 points to note.

1. Empathise - think of how the receiver will interpret the message.Often, when we consider the avenues through which we receive information, we think only from our own perspective. We frequently fail to note that different people have disparate ways of processing information. Empathy is a crucial aspect of putting across a message. It also involves putting ourselves in the shoes of the other person.
2. Repeat the message - there are many ways to put a message across, and one of the ways to ensure that the message is put through thoroughly is to paraphrase and reiterate.
3. Share the message at the right time - everyone has their own preferred timing for receiving information. There can be a myriad of responses to the same message, depending on the current disposition of the recipient; effective timing helps the message to be brought across effectively.
4. Describing the message - one should focus on the key issues and not on the person or his/her character. Lest ego gets in the way of amending an otherwise easily remediable situation.

As much as we expect others to receive the message we are trying to put across, there will be times when we are on the receiving end as listeners. How can we ensure that we engage in active listening?

The key is to never, ever interrupt when the other party is speaking, because interruption prevents a seamless flow of the message from the other party. Apart from the implicitly rude connotations, interruption also cause us to be distracted, increases our inner voice, and hence deprives us of the chance to suspend our own judgement. As much as we want others to empathise when we speak, we also need to empathise as listeners, to try to understand and really capture the essence of what the speaker to continue to engage in the conversation meaningfully, and it encourages true sharing from the speaker.

Overall, be conscious of your own inner voice; avoid screening out information, filtering and making judgements. And each time you sense that you are making judgements, remind yourself to suspend your judgement and maintain an open heart and mind to receive the speaker's message.

Must maintain a communication balance between customers and us. This will lead to effective communication.

Feedback Management System

What constitutes a good feedback management system to facilitate the free flow of input from customers? A good feedback management system has the following features:

1. It welcomes and receives both negative and positive feedback.
2. It takes action to resolve negative feedback.
3. It keeps records of all positive and negative feedback for action and for follow-up.
4. It tracks the feedback patterns and trends, giving the organisation a sense of direction in the way it manages the feedback, especially the negative feedback.
5. And finally, it provides learning in the areas in which service can be improved.

Take a look at your organisation at the moment. Is there a feedback management system? Does the system feature the points mentioned above? If yes, treasure them, as complaints do not come easily. So treasure your customers and welcome their feedback, be it complaints or compliments. Unless you continue to engage your customers to her both their positive and negative feedback, chances are that you may lose them in a matter of time.

 

It is worthwhile for organisations to embrace complaints as feedback, as free lessons and as coaching from their customers, so that they can continue to thrive in the competitive business climate.

Feedback is GOLD

" Complaint" or " negative feedback" seem to be terrible words in the context of service. But a company that embraces complaints in a position light will begin to appreciate them for what they truly are - a pot of GOLD!

Taken negatively, complaints are simply expressions of dissatisfaction. Seen positively, complaints can be feedback that are as scarce as gold, voices coming from genuine customers who care for the improvement of a service provider.

Feedback constitutes identification of the service gaps that customers hope to see fixed. Feedback can also include affirmation for organisations that have done well. Be it positive or negative feedback, organisations that pursue real service see feedback as gold, and hence treasure it. Those that do not receive feedback miss out on great opportunities for free lessons from customers, and they ultimately lose out on improvement opportunities. The benefits of feedback include being a low-cost source of customers' information, being an avenue to meet customer needs in areas in which a service provider initially falls short, and putting the service provider in a position to service recover in the venet of a breakdown.

A good feedback management system welcomes both positive and negative feedback and keeps records and tracks trends while providing learning for staff in the areas where service can be improved.

Real service providers embrace customer feedback that is as scarce as GOLD.

Surprising services

Surprising services are something extraordinary that only you provide. A service provider that is among the first to pioneer a service standard brings delight to customers.

What are the benefits of having delighted customers? They include loyalty, positive word of mouth and increased purchases, leading to greater profit, rewards for staff, etc. The benefits of delighting customers go on and on. In the context of delighting customers, satisfied customers are not necessarily loyal customers, because they can attain their satisfaction elsewhere. Conversely, delighted customers re loyal customers.

Despite such a list of benefits awaiting organisations that delight customers, surprising services are not consistently demonstrated by most organisations over time, as they lose focus on delighting customers. They lose touch of engaging what is changing in the environment, what is changing with customers' expectations and what is changing in the activities of their competitors and in technology. Given the intense competition in most industries, industry players tend to emulate each other as they compete for the market share.

As per the figure above, the inner circle represents expected or basic services, which competitors will contribute to provide to the marketplaces in their respective product categories. If there are more players within the smaller circle providing the expected services, soon they will just compete among themselves on pricing. In order for organisations to delight customers, there is a need to expand the circle. In order for customers to receive more than just basic services, we need to expand the boundary with innovative products and service offerings, as represented by the outer circle services.

The outer circle services are also known as surprising services, because they take the lead over the competition, being the first offerings in the marketplace to delight customers. Thus, surprising services will achieve their purpose in delighting customers and in doing so, will differentiate themselves from expected services.

Companies that provide surprising services will continue to lead the pack in how they serve customers by keeping them happy beyond contentment - delighting and surprising them by providing such positive experiences that customers will have much to share with friends, colleagues and people in their social networks.

Real Service Providers provide surprising services to lead the pack in how they serve customers.

Fix the problem from the root cause

A key role of customer service providers is to fix customers' problems. The question is, do problems get fixes once and for all, or do problems generally resurface? We should approach and explore how to solve the problems in such a way that we fix a problem, we eliminate the probability of recurrence.

What are some of the strategies that service providers can employ to nip problems in the bud? The main concept involves looking beyond the obvious solution. Therefore, there are two strategies we should look into: (1) extending the cause and (2) extending the fix.

In extending the cause, the service provider will consider additional problems that could come from the cause; this means looking for root causes to eradicate the problem.
In extending the fix, service providers consider the possibility of new problems arising as a result of the fix. 

Nipping the problem in the bud allows service providers to solve customers' problems beyond what is apparent, such that when the problems are fixed, there is no chance of recurrence. This can be done either through extending the cause or extending the fix. The former involves looking for the root cause of a customer's problem and the additional problems that might come along with the initial problem; by beyond the surface to understand root issues, service providers are better able to eradicate the problem completely.

Extending the fix takes into account the new problems that might arise as a result of the fix, so that the fix is not simply taken at face value as the ultimate solution. Certain additional fixes can be applied to ensure that service issues will not recur. These include changes to the organisation's service culture, philosophy and values, rewards and recognition, and internal customer service support.

In solving customers' problems, service providers eradicate problems at the root cause.

Mistakes in Customer Service

Organisations make mistakes from time to time. After all, organisations are created by people and comprises of people, and people are imperfect. However, in the eyes of the customers, a mistake made is a blemish on the record. And as expectations rise over time, customers expect a service providers to recover from the mistakes initially made. Unless organisations conduct service recovery to make amends for their mistakes, they stand to lose their customers. One of the key things that great organisations do is to embark on loyalty recovery programmes to win the hearts of the customers.

The two main components that are often found in a loyalty programme are:

1. Customer loyalty maintenance
2. Winning the faith and loyalty of lost customers

Organisations can choose to dismiss lost customers as insignificant, or at the other extreme, can go all out to win every lost customer back. So, if your organisation wants to win every lost customer back, we have to begin by equipping your customer service providers, engage them in customer service dialogues, reward service excellence behaviour and promote people who are service champions. Empowering your people, the front-line service providers, is the first step that you may want to consider.

Ten principles of Empowerment:

1. Trust - it is essentially the foundation of effective empowerment.
2. Respect - is about embracing diversity.
3. Defined responsibilities - clear sets of direction and KPIs.
4. Authority - the degree of service recovery amount or action
5. Goals and standards - motivations and core values of the organisations.
6. Staff development - constantly upgrading service excellence skills
7. Information sharing - information is power itself
8. Feedback - self reflection
9. Reward achievements - recognise service excellence
10. Permission to fail - executing new things will require some elements of failure

Service providers need to be empowered to do a great job.

Traditional versus exceptional problem solving

The traditional view advocates that we solve problems only as they arise. Such an approach to problem solving is reactive; we only react when we see a problem, only scramble for the extinguisher in the midst of the blaze.

In the exceptional view of problem-solving, service providers anticipate problems. To anticipate is not to guess - to anticipate is to be observant and to use the five senses. People who adopt the exceptional view of problem solving are often proactive in both mindset and actions. Above all, they take control of situations instead of having the situations control them.

Service providers who engage in exceptional problem solving will know how to work cooperatively with the customers instead of focusing on who is right and who is wrong. The first step of exceptional problem solving in customer service is managing and building realistic customer expectations.

Solving customers' problems effectively means working them out right the first time. This requires quality and critical thinking on the part of service providers. Customers deserve the best of our attention. It is the customers who justify the existence of our jobs.

Real service providers anticipate and prevent potential problems from happening.

Facing challenging customers

In context of customer service, challenging customers are often dissatisfied; dissatisfied customers are often difficult; and difficult customers are often illogical and angry. The top reason why customers get upset and perhaps appear difficult is the feeling that no one is listening to them. Customer interface is about a customer service provider having face-to-face interactions or phone conversations with the customer to try to understand his/her needs, concerns, problems or issues. Customers want to be listened to, and in moments of dissatisfaction when their needs are not met, they do not want to listen to anybody.

Research shows that customers can become boiling mad when service providers are rude to them. No one in the right frame of mind can stand someone who is rude to his/her face; especially not customers who are paying for service from these providers.

Communications comes in the form of verbal expression and, in what constitutes a surprising majority of communication, the non-verbal. 55% of our language comes from our non-verbal expressions. Customer service providers often come across as being rude to customers without saying anything: this is usually expressed through the providers' non-verbal behaviour, such as facial expressions, intonation, withdrawal, body language and all other types of signals or gestures that they use to represent their involuntary feelings. Customers are sensitive to every gesture and every word said by a service provider. Hence, any rudeness that is put across to the customer will be received and will immediately be reciprocated.

Another contributing key factor that makes customers challenging is when service providers do not deliver on their promises - a consistent winner amongst the list of most common customer complaints. The most challenging customers manifest certain behaviours, either verbally or non-verbally, in the way they express themselves or engage with service providers. Many times, however, the service providers perceive customers as challenging when the facts show otherwise.

When customer get angry, they become illogical. One key point to note is the illogical customers do not respond to logic; illogical customers respond to emotion. Therefore, the key is to resolve the customers' emotional issues before resolving his/her problem through logical explanations. When customers know that their complaint has been received and acknowledged by service providers, they calm down due to positive feelings of being understood. Hence, it is important for service providers to listen and be sensitive to resolve the customers' emotions before resolving the problem. When a service provider is able to manage his/her verbal and non-verbal when faced with a difficult customer, he/she will be on the way to managing the customer better.

Challenging customers calm down when their complaints have been received and acknowledged by service providers.   

Technology versus customer service

Customers often feel a loss of control when they are dealing with an organisation or service provider over the telephone. Today's technologically driven yet somewhat impersonal culture has caused customers to experience what is commonly described as a loss of the "human touch" from their service providers. High technology coupled with a genuine personal touch factor serves as a good combination; however, when technology is mixed with low personal touch, it can be disastrous.

A lack of human touch can cause us to lose our customers, especially if customers feel a sense of loss. Indeed, in any form of contact with our customers, what they wish for is a human presence - someone to understand their needs and concerns, someone who is able to solve the problem directly without having to transfer the customer from one department to another. This principle of seamless transitions is otherwise known as One Voice.

One Voice refers to a system that provides the customer with the convenience of sharing his/her inquiries or predicament relating to a product or service just once with the service organisation's reception; the customer is subsequently put through to the relevant department to receive immediate measures for a solution.

I am sure you have experienced this before as a customer, having to reiterate the same story across a few departments within the same organisation, only to be misunderstood or cut off in the transfer process, which puts customers in fear and gives a sense of loss and frustration. It is important to note that customers want to have control. Customers often feel a sense of loss when they have been transferred from one department to another, and they need assurance of their sense of control during the process of connecting to the right party.

Some steps to help customers retain a good sense of control include the seeking of permission before transferring their call, getting back to customers on hold within 20 seconds, informing the colleague from the relevant department about the nature of the customer's call before transferring, and offering to call the customer back later to verify whether they have received the help requested.

A seamless connection will prevent customers from feeling a sense of loss. 

Customer Satisfaction

Achieving customer satisfaction requires service providers to have a clear understanding of the customers' expectations and the perceptions they are getting through their experience of a particular good or service. Excellent service providers bring about experiences that exceed the customers' expectations, leading to positive perceptions and the building up of brand loyalty.

In reality, organisations cannot afford to infinitely increase service standards without suffering from the rising costs that result from higher standards. This calls for a fine balance between optimising service standards and catering to customer satisfaction.

When service providers maintain their confidence and assertion when making their points, they actually get to protect their company's interest without compromising the interests of the customers. Therefore, being assertive with what service providers can and cannot do, and keeping the promises that are made to customers must be realistically balanced.

In conclusion, customers have their own moods, so called "weather" and feelings from time to time. Understanding the concepts of expectations and perceptions will help service providers offer an ESE (exceptional service experience). Given the rising expectations of customers, it is challenging for service providers to cope without increasing costs. Learning to manage customers' expectations remains the key to providing an ESE without imposing further costs on the organisation.

When positive perceptions exceed customer expectations, the customer has an ESE.   

Customer Loyalty

How loyal are your current customers to you, your products or your service? Customer loyalty is not something to be taken for granted. It is not a given; it needs to be earned. The word "earn" denotes that service providers have to work hard to achieve customer loyalty. A satisfied customer will not necessarily be a loyal customer, for the simple reason that a customer can easily be satisfied elsewhere - unless under extraordinary circumstances - with the competitors' products and services.
Earning customers' loyalty requires hard work and must come from a planned approach from customer service providers to implement initiatives that will make customers delighted so they will ultimately stay with the brand, products and services.

Service standards are usually defined as a whole to a customer, therefore every service touchpoints is equally important. If the customer had a positive experience overall from all touchoints, then they would enjoy a totally real service experience that is positive. Positive touchpoint experiences help to delight customers, and that builds up loyalty.

Building on the touchpoint concept is the secret to creating best impressions. The saying goes that "the first impression is the last impression". By creating a good first impression, you can be sure that your customers' last impression is also the best impression. Impressions can either retain customers or drive customers away.

Impressions are customers' perceptions which can lead to their coming back as loyal customers or to their leaving you for another service provider. The secret to creating the best impressions involves service providers taking steps to partner the customers, develop  positive attitude towards customers and communicate effectively with customers.

Positive touchpoints contribute to an excellent Total Real Service Experience, making customers feel great and building customer loyalty.