In or Out

Q: An internal customer is someone who depends on the accuracy, quality and timeliness of your work.  Who is that in your world?

A.        The person who sits in the next chair

B.        The person who sits in the next department

C.        The barista at your coffee shop

D.        Your boss

E.         Your boss’s boss

F.         The sales team

A:  All of them, except C.   (Although some might argue that if I don’t start my day with a good cup of joe, I’m not as friendly.) 

Today, focus on treating your internal customers as well as you do your external customers - rather than a family member on day 4 of a visit!

• In person, use open body language and give them your full attention.
• Over the phone, aim not to interrupt or prejudge the call.
• In an email, read the email as if it was from a stranger in a neutral tone. 

To get respect, give respect.

Built for Speed

Q:  Customers today are tougher to deal with because:

1.     The age of the internet has made all of us more impatient?

2.     The ease of a google search has made us more aware of competition, options and ratings?

3.     Our Fitbit encourages us to keep moving at a faster pace?

A: All of the above

Our fast paced world has made us more impatient.  Opportunities for service using chat, text and FAQs have made us less likely to want to talk to a human and more likely to sound tough.

What’s a CSR to do?

Take a deep breath, say your mantra and speak with confidence.  When you sound confident, they’ll feel reassured and you’ll be in control.

A special shout-out goes to our new friends at Lawley. Here's an article we thought you'd enjoy based on our great exclamation point discussion.  We liked the quote, "Don't ask punctuation to do a word's job, it dilutes your message, makes you look unprofessional, and leaves you with nowhere to go when you actually do need an exclamation mark."  For the full article, click here.

Finishing Strong

Here's the dirt on my old dry cleaner - their process had a flaw.  My new dry cleaner is fun.  

Fun, you say? Well yes, the most painful part of the dry cleaning experience is paying and my new dry cleaner recognized that and accepts payment when I drop off my items. Now I get to go in, pick up my sparkling clean clothes and not even bring my wallet.  

How do you make your finish fun?

- Offer additional services or assistance.

- Use their name.

- Offer them a coupon.

- Set up their next appointment so they don't have to remember to do it later? Or so that they get the day and time they want.

- Offer to call, text or email them when their order is ready.  Tell them what's next. 

- Say something out-of-the-ordinary.

Most businesses say, "have a nice day." How about getting creative - for example, if you are in the heating/HVAC business "Stay cool," if you are in legal services say, "hope we don't serve you later," if you are in the plumbing business, "hope your day doesn't go down the tubes"... 

You get the picture.  Give it some thought and send me your ideas!

Another Opportunity to Say "Thank You"

Q: What do you do if someone blogs bad news about your company?

A: Say thank you.

Huh?

It's natural to get defensive when you get a negative online post.  But take a moment and instead of reiterating your company policy and explaining your procedures, say "thank you".

After that have a conversation with that unhappy customer, but have it over the phone. 

Listen to their story, empathize and offer to make it right. In fact, sweeten the offering so much that you can go back later and ask them to take down their post or at least repost a positive. 

A negative post is an opportunity to shine.  Respond don't react.

Empathy Detective!

Your assignment for today, should you choose to accept it, is Spot-the-Emotion.

Here's how it works. 

Step 1: Make a list of emotions your callers display, e.g.:

Frustration, Skepticism, Worry, Impatience, Relief, Confusion, Joy, Satisfaction

Step 2: During the call, spot the emotion of the caller and check it off your list.

Step 3: Use this to reflect back your understanding of their situation.  For example, "I understand your concern and would be glad to help" or "I appreciate your patience" or "You sound worried, let me see what we can do."

This email will self-destruct in five seconds...

Honor President's Day

Washington's Birthday is a United States federal holiday, celebrated on the third Monday of February in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States.

George Washington said "I cannot tell a lie" so, in his honor, this President’s Day aim for the honesty of the expression “I don’t know”, if you don't.

Tip:  Be sure to follow it up with what you will do to find out:

"I will research and get back to you by 3pm"

or

"I will transfer you to the person who takes care of that"

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's the good news about tomorrow being Valentine's Day - you have a pleasant way to end your calls.

As many of your know, I'm a big fan a strong finish that demonstrates professionalism and care. That finish includes;  an outline of next steps, offering further assistance, thanking them for the call or business, using their name and saying something pleasant.  

So for today, for one day only, you get to say, "Just to confirm Mr. Smith, your order has been processed and you can expect an email in the next hour with an update.  If you have any other questions please email.  Thank you for calling and Happy Valentine's Day. "

Be sure to offer a strong finish to every call and email and oh ya, Happy Valentine's Day!