Quote of the week:
- "Eighty percent of business is about one human being attempting to communicate with another" - Chin-Ning Chu
Recommended book of the week:
- The Transformed Mind. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
- Published by Hodder & Stoughton
Website link of the week
- www.wealtheducators.com.au "You too can become a millionaire in less than four years" - Paul Counsel
This week's customer service "Touchstone".
Current magazines in waiting room.
Whether it's waiting to see your accountant, your doctor or even waiting for your takeaway pizza, time travels a little faster if a current magazine or a copy of the day's morning newspaper is available for you to read. In fact I have on occasions been so caught up in the article I was reading, that I was slightly annoyed that I wasn't able to finish it owing to my pizza being ready or my doctor calling me in.
So what's best in the way of magazines, newspapers and reading material for your customer waiting rooms? Again this depends a great deal on knowing who your customers are. It is easy to make the mistake of wrongly assuming what it is your customers would like to read. Taking automotive businesses as an example, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all customers are 'petrol-heads' and that car magazines are all that is desired. WRONG! Most car owners use their cars solely as a means of transport and are not particularly interested in cars beyond that. In addition, nearly fifty per-cent of car owners are women, so it is important to ensure that a suitable array of magazines for women are available. Business magazines such as BRW would also be appropriate.
For professional offices, where customers regularly call throughout the day for appointments, daily newspapers, business magazines and business reports are most appropriate. For doctor's surgeries, frequented by customers of all ages, a wider array of reading material including the Women's Weekly, Who's Who, Time, and children's books is desirable.
However, having a wide selection of reading material is one thing, making sure it is current is another. There is nothing worse than picking up a magazine only to find that it is two or three years old. Actually there is something worse and that's to find pages torn out, crosswords filled in and personality tests completed.
The key to making sure that your customers are taken care of whilst YOU keep them waiting, is to take out subscriptions of two or three 'customer congruent' magazines, plus the daily newspaper, solely for your waiting room. Believe me, this is an annual $500 investment that will bring you many happy customer returns.
The key to providing great customer service is to simply ask yourself, "what would I want under the same circumstances?" Treat customers as human beings and not as demographics or 'pin' numbers and you're 90% there. After all, Customer Service is not rocket science.
Until next week, stay true to yourself and to your customers. And remember great customer service relationships happen by design, and occur in the moment, one customer at a time.
