Would you agree that there are some people that seem to have a gift for delivering top customer service? Their voices are lively, they listen patiently, and they organize their explanations succinctly and effectively. And there are others who seem miscast in their roles. Theyre impatient, irritating or irritated, and theyre confusing. It would be easy to impute skill to the first type. Theyre successful and theyre well received, and generally we believe people who get results at anything are more able than others. They may have been born that way: cheerful, resilient, and happy to be of service. When they say, Sure, Ill be happy to help you with that! it sounds heartfelt, while others stumble over or swallow this line and they come across as insincere. We could even call the successful ones naturals, as in natural, born customer service people. If there were sufficient numbers of these folks, we could concentrate on hiring only them and everything would be great. Without much supervision theyd steer themselves in the right direction and achieve consistent customer satisfaction. But theyre rare, and this means we need to study what they do, instinctually, and turn those behaviors into protocols that the less gifted can emulate. Ive been studying customer service and sales conversations for decades, and much of my academic work is in the field of Communications. I devise and test new and improved theories and practices. Ive detected certain TONE PATTERNS, for example, that consistently satisfy customers. Naturals use these patterns without being aware of it. Others can learn them and use them and get identical results. This is when customer service becomes a DISCIPLINE. It is putting to work, consistently, those techniques that have been proven to work, transaction after transaction. Disciplines are much more reliable than skills. For instance, a natural have a bad day, week, or month and not know what to do to sound better and to achieve at her former levels. But if she has been taught a discipline, she can replicate her best performances irrespective of her attitude or mood. By using patterned texts and by making her voice hit certain notes shell unfailingly come across as cheerful and ready, willing, and able to help. As a manager or owner it pays to invest in disciplines, rational routines for conducting business that deliver predictable and reliable results. If you invest merely in skills, then youre betting the business on individual personalities, and when they leave, they take the ability to achieve with them! |
