receiving a phone call, email or text back in under an hour. Preferably, even faster.
Now, there might be the need to research some elements of the product or service, or possibly of their account before you can actually get back to the customer with a full response.
And that’ s understandable. But if I’ m the customer and I receive that call, email or text right away that at least lets me know my message has been received and they’ re working on it and will get back to me with the full response – now, I’ m feeling better and more confident that I’ ll actually receive the response I need.
Otherwise, if I’ m sitting around waiting and hoping to hear from customer support, I’ m likely going to reach out to several other companies, and I’ m likely to be more inclined to do business with the first person that reaches out to make contact.
Let’ s also look at responsiveness from another perspective.
Good service responds. Excellent service ANTICIPATES.
Picture this: Your delivery truck breaks down. Good service waits for angry customers to call, then scrambles to explain. Excellent service? They’ re already texting customers with updates, offering discounts and arranging alternatives before anyone even knows there’ s a problem. Those are problem-solving skills that should be part of any customer service philosophy. Here’ s what you can do in your business: Make this part of your customer service strategy. Respond quickly. Few things help you stand out more and set you apart like responding faster than a prospect or customer thinks you will. I love hearing,“ Wow, that was fast” anytime a customer fills out a form on our site and I get them on the phone moments later. And set up automated alerts for ANY potential service disruption. Don’ t wait for customer complaints to find you.
Care = Emotional Intelligence + Action
How often do you feel like a company or any of the employees actually care about you? Yeah, they care about your money and how to get as much as possible from you, but rarely do I ever feel like someone truly cares about me, the individual. This is where most businesses completely miss the boat.
Good service recognizes something is happening and perhaps weaves it into the service interaction by saying something like“ happy birthday” in passing or offers
a small,“ I’ m sorry that happened to you” before moving on with their day.
Excellent service? They FEEL your emotion … and then they DO something about it.
My dad recently told me this story that highlighted this difference perfectly. He was with his mom out at Raglan Road Irish Pub at Disney Springs. My grandma is 92 and from Ireland, so my parents casually mentioned that to the hostess before they were seated.
It wasn’ t long until the manager, who was also from Ireland, came over to greet her and share stories about their Irish heritage. He even brought over some Irish whiskeys for her to try, and it gives me a lot of joy to hear about my grandma sitting there taking shots of whiskey.
There was no extra charge. Just pure human connection.
My grandma loved that experience and told everyone she knew about it.
Here’ s what you can do in your business: Train your team to listen to emotional cues and empower them to act on them immediately. If you can identify the customer’ s needs or wants, it’ ll make it much easier to deliver personalized service in most of your customer interactions.
Active Listening and the Power of Remembering
Here’ s where it gets interesting... Good customer service reps listen to what you’ re saying.
Excellent reps? They remember what you said three months ago.
Imagine walking into your favorite restaurant and the server says,“ Hey, John! How did your daughter’ s cheer competition go? You want your usual table by the window?”
That’ s not just service. That’ s relationship building. And relationships? They’ re worth their weight in gold.
Here’ s what you can do in your business: Create a simple customer notes system. Track personal details, preferences and past conversations. Use them to improve the customer experience. You’ ll be amazed at the power that remembering a detail about someone can have.
Turn Knowledge into Guidance Knowledge is good. And it’ s also expected. But guidance? That’ s where the money is.
Anyone can recite product specs when helping a customer. But can your team guide customers to the best solution for their specific situation?
Here’ s what I mean: Customer asks for Product A. Good service sells them Product A.
Excellent service asks questions, discovers they actually need Product B, and in the process, saves them money and creates a customer for life.
Most service professionals focus on the one sale in front of them without seeing the big picture and the lifetime value of that customer. By taking a few extra minutes to really learn about them and their situation, you’ re likely to uncover the true need and can then point them in the right direction.
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TANNING SUNLESS BATH & BODY
ACHIEVE LASTING
SUCCESS
# W E A R E T A N N I N G
BY STRENGTHENING
YOUR CORE
F S TA N N I N G F S V I P
F S TA N N I N G f s t a n n i n g. c o m 1. 8 0 0. 3 2 5. 2 7 6 9
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