The Customer Care Guy’s Tip – Give Your Customer Respect by Respecting Their Time.
The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield had a catchphrase, “I get no respect”. If your customers feel they get no respect you’ll soon be out of a job. One way you can show respect to your customers is by honoring their time.
Today people are busier and busier than just twenty or thirty years ago. People are over scheduled. They work more hours now than ever before.
The last time I checked we still have only twenty-four hours in a day. Yet today people multitask working from home in the evenings and even checking email and text messages from home and when they are out shopping.
Time is valuable. That is why people get unhappy when they think someone is wasting or intruding on their time.
When I make an outbound service call or call back to the customer, I ask them if this is a good time for them. I ask this question even when I have an appointment with them. Why do I do this? Situations change. You can listen to the background activity if you are calling someone on the phone for clues. You can tell if they are busy and stressed. You can offer to call back if the timing is wrong. You can suggest they call you when it is a better time.
Other times you provide face to face service with a client. Never forget they come to us needing us to accomplish something for them. When they arrive they want assistance now. They want everything solved on their schedule. Most of all they do not want to be made to wait.
You know what slow or bad service is like. Have you ever walked away because the person is just too slow? I have. This is especially frustrating if it is taking too long for a job that should be quickly and easily handled.
You would think since we all are busy and all have experienced slow service it would be easy to remember to be not slow. Don’t do it too your customers! This includes how long someone waits on the telephone.
I find it easy to tell when someone is getting impatient. You should be able to decide that as well. If they are looking at their watches, you know you are probably guilty of doing things too slowly!
You need to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Avoid chit-chat or small talk when possible. Sure, both are good to build rapport with the customer, but just shooting the breeze wastes time for this client and those waiting in a physical line or call queue. It’s okay to talk to your customer about their concerns and how you make them whole.
Never forget the great customer service is about putting your customers ahead of your needs. One way you do this is to respect their time. Respecting their time is
- Quickly identifying their needs
- Staying on task
- Seeing things from their point of view
- Solving their concerns the first time
- Avoiding transferring the customer to someone else
- Taking ownership of their concerns
When you do the above items in a timely manner, you show respect for your customer. This will build customer loyalty. Customer loyalty adds to your profits. And … you’ll never have a customer say, “I get no respect”.
The Customer Care Guy’s Tip – Give Your Customer Respect by Respecting Their Time.
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Written by: Jimmie Aaron Kepler, The Customer Care Guy
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The Customer Care Guy | Jimmie Aaron Kepler 