"Tart words make no friends. A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar"
- Benjamin Franklin
Recommended book of the week:
Customer Service for Dummies
- Karen Leland & Keith Bailey, IDG Books Worldwide.
This week's customer service "moment of truth".
Good Manners.
In previous newsletters we have talked about acknowledging customers when they enter your place of business, looking them in the eye, using their name, the power of a smile etc. etc.
Now apart from making good business sense, these actions of you and your staff are just COMMON COURTESY and plain GOOD MANNERS.
But how often are these life skills we all learned in kindergarten missing?
The research shows that 68% of customers, who no longer do business with you, took their business elsewhere because of an 'attitude of indifference'. So what is this attitude of indifference? How do customers pick up on it?
Indifference is described in the dictionary as an 'absence of interest or attention'.
How do customers detect this absence? Well I think it is important to state the 'bleedin' obvious'. BY THE WAY YOU TREAT THEM!
Great service companies know that 'it's the little things that make the biggest difference'. That is why they spend so much time and 'attention' ensuring that all members of staff know what is expected of them. Standards of behaviour are clear and understood by all.
Staff also know what is not tolerated under any circumstances. At the top of this list is 'rudeness and bad manners'.
So how do bad manners show up on a daily basis?
Not returning phone calls.
Not saying please, thank you, or you're welcome.
Opening late and/or closing earlier than you advertised times.
Abruptly putting people on hold on the telephone without their permission.
Not acknowledging your customer's presence.
Keeping customers waiting.
Not spelling their name correctly.
Not doing what you have said you will do.
Carrying on another conversation whilst serving a customer.
Accepting a phone call when you are already serving a customer.
Leaving your mobile phone turned on during a meeting.
Arriving late for an appointment or meeting.
The list goes on, yet what is the cost of reversing all of the above situations? Absolutely nothing!
Paying attention to these seemingly small aspects of business life is the 'difference that makes the difference'. Why? Because how you perform these simple tasks is what your customers use to judge the quality of you company, product and service by. It's the criteria that your customers use to decide whether or not they will continue to do business with you.
Good manners equals great business, and remember, it's the little things that make the biggest difference.
Until next week, stay true to yourself and to your customers. And remember great customer service relationships happen by design, in the moment, moment by moment.
