This is Part Three and is the conclusion of our series on how to provide superior customer service.
1. Go the extra mile
Time is always short and we all tend to cut corners and look for anywhere we can save time. On the receiving end of the service though, we are looking for as much personalised attention as possible, so there is a natural tension between these two aspirations. Training staff to think beyond the natural limits of time challenged customer service is the start. We can all do more. If we think of things from the customer’s point of view, we can extrapolate what would delight customers.
I visited the café of a well-known business to enjoy a hot chocolate. This was a small outlet, which had one table for customers to sit down. There were no other clientele, so I decided to sit there and drink my brew, before heading off. There were two staff working at that time and when the beverage was ready, the male staff member brought it to the counter.
He could just as easily have brought it to my seat, which was a metre away from the counter, but he chose not to. There was no time pressure on him, but his mind was in basic service mode and not in “go the extra distance” thinking. I am also guessing, given his age, that he was the manager of that small store, so you can see the problem with him in charge supervising others.
2. Using 3rd parties as proof points
No one in Japan wants to be experimented upon or be the Guinea Pig. They want proven, established, reliable, repeatable, high quality service. Years ago, I was with my family in a Korean Barbecue restaurant in the Azabu Juban. I noticed on the wall they had a hand written list ranking the most requested dishes. I thought that was a smart idea for a Japanese audience, who want safety, rather than novelty or adventure. The next day, I brought this up at the Shinsei retail bank, where I worked and suggested we do the same and list our most popular financial products. We did that and it gave that third party seal of approval, making the purchasing decision that much easier.
3. Master first impressions
We are all quick to judgement and often we base it on what we see, before what we hear. Just looking at how someone is dressed influences what we think about who they are. A lot of firms have uniforms for that reason, to standardise the image they want to project and to control the branding. The way we dress matters, so we have to work on that and make sure it is communicating the image we want. In the customer service sector, it might be voice first or it might be visual first. Either way, we have to be mindful of how we come across to the customer. The sound of our voice should always be friendly and helpful.
I had some lower back issues recently and went to a clinic which specialises in that area. The first doctor I met welcomed me, looked at me, gave me his name and listened to my problems. I had to go back again after a week and this time, because of the day of the week, I got a different doctor. Same clinic, but this guy was well overweight, slumped down in his chair, staring at his computer screen. He didn’t offer his name, look at me or seem happy to see me and my money. We are facing a major population decline here in Japan, so these doctors really need to hang on to their patients and the competition is only going to get more intense. Same firm and two entirely different impressions. Getting consistency is a matter of awareness and training.
4. Cross and upsell
Selling should always be with the best interests of the customer. We need to have that in mind, rather than ramming more sales down the gullets of the buyers or selling them stuff they don’t need. Cross selling is there to open up options for the customer, to give them more of what they need. Upselling is to upgrade the quality of what the client has already bought, to give them a better experience. Both have to be done in the customer’s interests and the customer has to feel that is the case.
I used to go to a dentist in Azabudaidai but I never felt my interests were upper most in his mind. I always felt he was seeing me sitting here in his dentist chair, visualizing his new Tuscan Villa, paid for by the additional dental work he was always suggesting. I stopped going to him because I didn’t feel he was trustworthy. There is a massive over supply of dentists in Tokyo and there are plenty of choices, so his greed was a very shortsighted measure.
5. Able to deal with different personality types
We have some people who are very detailed oriented called Analyticals, while others are the opposite and massively big picture, “don’t bog me down in the weeds” types known as Expressors. Others are fast paced and hard driving as they push, push, push called Drivers. The opposite types are Amiables - quieter, considered and want to have a cup of tea and get to know us before they will do business. In customer service we have to know who we are dealing with, because that will change the form of communication we choose.
We have our own preferred personal style and that is fine, but that means there are three other styles who are different from us and they demand a different approach in order for us to be successful with them. Generally, we can tell from the way they speak, which group they fall into. If they are confident, strong, assertive they are going to be Expressors or Drivers. If they are quieter and more reserved, then they are likely to be Analyticals or Amiables.
Just knowing this enables us to strengthen out voice or soften it, when we deal with them. That alone means we are doing a good job of matching how they like to communicate and they will feel more comfortable with us.
6. Skilled in conflict management
The service sector is bound to have conflict issues between what the customer wants and what the firm wants. In customer service roles, we often get very irate people talking to us and they are difficult to deal with. The usual breakdown is they want something and we don't have it, or we won’t do it.
How we communicate that is everything. We just covered different personality styles so that is the first line of response. We try and understand who we are dealing with. We may need a very detailed explanation as a result or can just be brief. Naturally, we have to be super polite all the way through. Being gruff with a Driver type is incendiary, so I don’t recommend that, but we can be direct and they won’t be offended.
We need to be looking for empathy, win-win solutions, practical alternatives, context and background explanations and of course lots of flexibility. I remember when I was in trade promotion, we had sold a new buyer on purchasing garden bark from Australia. It had to be just bark, with no twigs or pebbles or sand. The day the ship should have departed, the supplier called us to explain they missed the ship but “don’t worry, it will be on the next one”.
When we relayed that vital piece of information to the Japanese buyer, I could hear the anger coming out of the phone, being held by my staff member seated three metres away. It was so intense, such red-hot rage. He had promised his customers bark and now he couldn't supply it, so we were burning his business, by not living up to our side of the bargain.
That was the end of that business on the spot and no more orders. There was no wiggle room in that case, but wherever we can, we should be looking for solutions to alleviate the problem for the customer.
Over the last three session we have covered off a large number of things to think about in customer service. Information is good, but execution is the key. Often the issues we face are structural or the consequence of legacy systems. We need to keep upgrading our internal approaches to become better at servicing customers, so that we can outmaneuver our rivals in the marketplace.
