JJ's (April 2014) Tips in this issue: 1. Customer Experiences ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use the following tips as training tools. Present this situation to your group and brainstorm solutions together, or submit ------------------------------------- Is customer service getting better or is it getting worse? What are your current experiences as a customer? Are you giving great customer service yourself? --------------------- As I look back over the customer experiences I’ve had this week, some were good, some bad and some just okay. The one yesterday ended on a frustrating note! After working forty-five minutes with an on-line chat rep I realized that the rep had not listened to what my specific need was. He seemed physically present but mentally elsewhere. He appeared distracted as he led me in the wrong direction, and I began to lose faith in his ability to help. Finally it was obvious that the chat needed to be stopped. It had been a waste of time for both of us. Yes, it is less costly for companies to automate their customer contact but it can be frustrating and negative to customers. With fewer people doing multiple jobs more customer care training is needed. The chat room rep needed better listening and responding skills. Another customer interaction was a face to face transaction in a drug store. Everyone was visibly busy and away from the customer window. Finally a young man saw me waiting and came to wait on me. He obviously saw his stocking-the-shelves job as his main job and not customer service. He rushed through the process without making me feel like a valued customer. It was a missed opportunity to please or even WOW a customer! Without the customers he wouldn’t even have a job. Whoever trained him didn’t teach him what his main job was. Whether you work directly with customers or not, everything you do should be aimed toward excellent customer service - to retain and attract customers and influence others in the company to have that same goal! The third situation was a phone conversation with my Kaiser medical provider's call center. I needed to speak to my doctor about changing a medication for a specific problem. The doctor was out of the area for the day so the rep said I could come in and see a new doctor if I wanted. I explained to her that a phone appointment was all I needed because this doctor knew my history and I didn’t want to start over with a new doctor. The attendant was very caring as she listened to my situation. She tried to make a phone appointment for me but the doctor’s schedule was completely booked for the next day. She told me she would leave a message for my doctor. Later she called back to tell me she had asked the doctor’s assistant about squeezing me in for a phone appointment and she said yes. Both of them were empowered to make decisions to help their customer/patient, and I was impressed! The doctor called at the 10:30 time with exactly what I needed and I was extremely pleased with everyone involved in the process. They all cared and more than met my expectations. Kaiser has been making a huge effort to insure every patient is more than satisfied with their service. Their soft skills training to staff and the surveys sent to patients after treatment are paying off for them! When you are asked to give feedback on your customer experience, give it freely! It’s your chance to improve the service! The way employees treat each other and their customers reflects directly back to managers and their company customer care training or lack of it. It’s an attitude that is seen and felt by customers every day in every way! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do, are in harmony." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE in an area? Service? Sales? Call for your FREE CONSULTATION now EVALUATION OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT Have you had an Evaluation of Your Environment lately so you could receive suggestions on improving it? (It's like the doctor's check up, you often don't know you need it, until after you've had it.) http://www.jjlauderbaugh.com/about.html **************************************** JJ Lauderbaugh, CMC JJ works with companies that want to give exceptional customer service to increase sales,
and with Directors and Call Center/Help Desk Managers who want to improve human
performance. ---------------------------------------------------------- Reprinted with permission
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