CUSTOMER SERVICE

Defining a Service Culture

• What is a service culture in an organization? The answer is that it is different for each
organization. No two organizations operate in the same manner, have the same focus, or
provide management that accomplishes the same results. Among other things, a culture
includes the values, beliefs, norms, rituals, and practices of a group or organization. Any
policy, procedure, action, or inaction on the part of your organization contributes to the
service culture. Other elements may be specific to your organization or industry.
• A key point to remember about service culture is that you and every other employee plays
a key role in communicating the culture of your organization to your customers. You may
communicate the culture through your appearance, your interaction with customers, and
your knowledge, skill, and attitude. The latter element is crucial in your success and that of your
organization.
• As a service provider, if you take a job just to have a paycheck without buying into the
service culture and supporting the goals of the organization, both you and the organization
will lose. For you to be successful in the service industry (or any other for that matter), you must
take ownership of your roles and responsibilities and show commitment to doing the best you
can every day that you go to work. Even further, you must project a positive
attitude when you are not at work as well. Think about the number of times you have heard
friends “bad mouth” their boss, organization, products, and services.
• Did their attitude toward their job inspire you to want to patronize their workplace or apply
for a job there? If you were to take the same approach in sharing information about your
organization or the people in it, there can be a negative effect on you and the
organization.Suchactions can lead to lost customers and revenue that goes to pay salaries and
benefits and to provide the tools and environment necessary to conduct business and deliver
effective customer service. What you do or say around others in any environment sends a
powerful message about you, your level of professionalism, and your organization. If you cannot
support your employer, quit and find a job where you can. To do less is being unfair to yourself
and your organization.
• Culture also encompasses your products and services, and the physical appearance of
the organization’s facility, equipment, or any other aspect of the organization with which
the customer comes into contact. Unfortunately, many companies are top-down–oriented (with
upper management at the top of their hierarchy and customers as a final element or
afterthought) or product-centered and view customers from the standpoint of what
company products or services they use. Successful organizations are customer-centered or
customer-centric and focus on individual needs.
• An organization’s service culture is made up of many facets, each of which affects the
customer and helps determine the success or failure of customer service initiatives. Too often,
organizations overpromise and under deliver because their cultural and internal systems
(infrastructure) cannot support customer service initiatives. For example, suppose that
management has the marketing department develop a slick piece of literature describing all the
benefits of a new product or service provided by a new corporate partner.
Then a special toll-free number or website is set up to handle customer responses, but no
additional staff is hired to handle the customer calls or current service providers are not
given adequate information or training to do their job. The project is likely doomed to fail
because adequate service support has not been planned and implemented.
• In the past, organizations were continually making changes to their product and service
lines to try to attract and hold customers. Often this has been their primary approach to
customer satisfaction. Now, many major organizations have become more customer-
centric and stress relationships with customers. They realize that it is cheaper, and
smarter, to keep current customers rather than subscribe to a revolving-door approach of
continually trying to attract new customers to replace the ones that they lost to competitors.
Advertising campaigns often reflect this new awareness as companies try to communicate
that they are focused on their customers.

(Many elements define a successful service organization. Some of the more common are
shown here.
1. Service philosophy or mission: The direction or vision of an organization that supports
day-to-day interactions with the customer.
2. Employee roles and expectations: The specific communications or measures that
indicate what is expected of employees in customer interactions and that define how
employee service performance will be evaluated.
3. Delivery systems: The way an organization delivers its products and services.
4. Policies and procedures: The guidelines that establish how various situations or
transactions will be handled.
5. Products and services: The materials, products, and services that are state of the art,
are competitively priced, and meet the needs of customers.
6. Management support: The availability of management to answer questions and assist
frontline employees in customer interactions when necessary. Also, the level of
management involvement and enthusiasm in coaching and mentoring professional
development.
7. Motivators and rewards: Monetary rewards, material items, or feedback that prompts
employees to continue to deliver service and perform at a high level of effectiveness and
efficiency.
8. Training: Instruction or information provided through a variety of techniques that teach
knowledge or skills, or attempt to influence employee attitude toward excellent service
delivery.
The following are some familiar slogans used by companies in their promotional
materials:
“You can do it; We can help”—Home Depot
“Like a good neighbor”—State Farm Insurance
“When you’re here, you’re family”—Olive Garden Restaurants
“You’re in good hands”—Allstate Insurance Company
“We’ll leave the light on for you.”—Motel 6
“Think what we can do for you.”—Bank of America)

Customer Service Core Competencies

Core competencies are the key skills a business encompasses to provide a service to the
customer that are not easily reproduced by others. Core competencies provide a direct benefit
to the customer. Creating ongoing superior customer service is an art that begins with
employing the right people who have skills such as the ability to display passion, communicate
effectively, and exercise flexibility. These people should also develop techniques to work
efficiently, harbor a sense of ownership of their jobs, maintain current knowledge, and project
enthusiasm and dedication.

Six major core competencies provide a foundation for delivering superior service:

1. The Ability to Communicate Effectively

Every encounter with the customer begins with communication. The ability to send the right
message while projecting an enthusiastic attitude reflects good customer service. But com-
munication is a two-way street. The ability to listen to and understand customer needs is critical.
As technology advances, so does the way we communicate. When communicating
by email, text messaging, social networks, and so on, the message should project passion on
how you serve and care for your customers. This is done with effective, personable wording,
courteous tone, and friendliness depicting a helpful attitude.
Communicating over the telephone also requires specific skills that project clear understanding,
assess the situation, and provide a solution. This requires knowledge, empathy, personal touch,
enthusiasm, and your undivided attention in dealing with individual customers. It calls for
projecting a “can do” attitude up front by comforting the
customer. This will set the tone of the conversation. One warning: Do not promise some-
thing you are not able to deliver on and always state what you “can do” not what you “can’t do.”

2. Acceptance of Ownership
People are more engaged in their work when they own the outcome. True ownership within
customer service is the relentless pursuit to drive to completion any issue a customer is
currently dealing with. In many cases, the customer is simply asking that a situation be fixed. He
or she does not want an employee to recite company policy or forward the call to another
department. The ability to seize the opportunity to satisfy a customer request in the quickest
way possible (or to shepherd the customer’s needs to a timely resolution elsewhere) is a core
competency that marks career success. Creating an environment where customer service
representatives are encouraged to take a leadership role will increase the notion of ownership.
Employees will respond in a positive way as increased responsibility brings increased personal
pride.

3. The Ability to Use Empowerment

Once employees feel a sense of ownership (responsibility) for a job, they must also be given the
latitude to exercise authority. Employees at all levels need appropriate autonomy to make
decisions for the benefit of the customer. Having to gain management approval to make even
small exceptions or accommodations can make the service experience unduly cumbersome.
It also inhibits employee morale. People enjoy work where they have reasonable authority to
make decisions that are best for the customer. Of course, organizations must manage a fine
line to ensure that employees are not “giving away the store.” But true empowerment pro-
vides customer contact people with the latitude to make nimble decisions (even in contrast
of company policies) to satisfy important customer needs.

4. The Ability to Manage Knowledge

Knowledge management deals with how people in organizations learn new ways to do things
and share that learning with others for the benefit of the company. Alert people constantly learn
new ways to deal with various customer needs or providing solutions to unique customer issues.
Managers need to ensure ways to tap into employee creativity, to give voice to new ideas.
Customer service excellence is not a static condition. What “works” today may lose
effectiveness as competitors adopt the same ideas, for example. People in the organization will
shape the extent of knowledge creation and distribution as they facilitate idea sharing,
mentoring, brainstorming, and applying ever-changing knowledge that supports a service
strategy. In Chapters 10 through 12, we will discuss ways to participate in idea generation for
exceeding customer expectations and solidifying a service strategy.

5. The Ability to Manage Change

Once we get beyond the most basic behaviors (like greeting customers, and saying please
or thank you, for example), the service environment is fluid and ever changing. Successful
people need to be open to and adaptive of change. This can be difficult for people who may
stick to the comfort and predictability of the old ways.
Ongoing service excellence requires flexibility. For change to be successful requires
the people to be involved in the process. Building a team to be flexible in a culture of
change requires buy-in. To achieve buy-in requires a clear vision of the corporate strategy.
The corporate strategy is dynamic and employees must be able to adapt to change to meet
corporate goals. A clear vision of change must be repeatedly communicated and must not
be oversimplified.

6. Predisposition for Continuous Improvement

Nothing is forever. Even core competencies are likely to evolve or change in relative
importance. A prerequisite to any rational improvement is feedback—from customers,
employees, and the marketplace. If we don’t know how we’re doing now, how can we
possible improve?
As we will discuss in Chapter 8, customer feedback is vital for gaining a clear
understanding of what your customers want and expect from you. Once the “effect” of
your current efforts is identified, you want to formulate all the “causes” that will contrib-
ute to the “effect.” Things that work should be expanded; things that do not contribute to
success should be reduced or eliminated.
Continuous improvement as a driving core competency is a mind-set—an openness
to adapt and experiment. Such willingness is rooted in the awareness that we are not perfect
and can always do things better. Every adjustment in what we do should serve one main
purpose and that is to stimulate customer loyalty—to make customers want to come back
for more and enthusiastically recommend you to others.
The rest of this book will offer innumerable ideas for honing these core competencies.
LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMER

This chapter focuses on the nature of listening and the skills individual service providers need to
do a better job. In Chapter 8 we will study the processes companies use to get feedback from
customers—in other words, organizational listening.

Poor Listening = the #1 Communication Problem

The lack of effective listening may be the most common human communication problem—and
a significant factor in customer dissatisfaction. One of the greatest gifts we can give others is
ourattention. People who commit to be active listeners experience communication like never
before.
Everyone wants to be heard, understood, respected, and loved. A lot of us like to talk and very
few choose to listen. Therein lies a huge opportunity for distinguishing yourself from the vast
majority of ineffective listeners. When you become a skilled, active listener, you will become a
better communicator. You will also improve your customer service skills.
As customer service professionals, we need to have our “ears on” regularly. We need to
apply effective listening in dealing with others. This chapter takes an in-depth look at listening,
gives you a better understanding of the problems and provides specific action tips you can apply
to be a better listener.
Why is this so tough? Ironically, of the four basic communication skills—reading, writing,
speaking, and listening—only one is not formally taught. Elementary schools focus heavily on
the first three and assume that students are picking up listening. After all, isn’t listening really just
a matter of sitting back and letting the talker have his or her say?
In the following pages we will explain why listening is so much more important, define some
common barriers to good listening, and offer some pointers on how to become a more skillful,
active listener. Highly developed listening skills are crucial to success in any relationship—
including our Chapter 3 • Listen to Your Customer (a Big “Little Thing”) 43
relationships with customers. Few people are really good at listening and those who become good
have a significant competitive advantage over others in the world of customer service.
the DifferenCe between Listening AnD mereLy heAring
Many of us confuse hearing and listening. In reality, they are two different things. The process
we call hearing is purely a physical activity by which acoustic energy in the form of sound waves
is changed to mechanical and electrochemical energy that the brain can understand. All of this
has little to do with listening. Listening refers to the psychological processes that allow us to
attach meaning to the patterns of energy we “hear.” All the potential problems, which typically
arise from psychological processes—differences in perception, biases, our predispositions, our
lack of patience—come into play in the listening process.
Perhaps you are “listening” to music while reading this. Or perhaps you are in an environment
where other people can be heard. Are you really listening to those sounds or merely hearing them.
The “cocktail party effect” provides another example of the difference between hearing and listen-
ing. At a cocktail party there are usually several conversations going on simultaneously in the
same
room. Everyone present at the party is aware of these conversations in that they can be heard.
On the other hand, we usually must make a conscious effort to listen to any one of these
conversations. We are physically capable of changing all or most of the acoustic energy in the
room into electrochemical energy. We are much less capable of attaching meanings to all the
sounds—unless we actively focus.
What Contributes to Listening?
Before we can begin to improve our listening skills, we need to understand the demands placed
upon our listening capacities. These demands fall into three categories or elements of the listening
process: internal elements, environmental elements, and interactional elements.
internal elements Affecting Listening
Listening involves the mental process of attaching meanings to words or sounds we hear. Two
preconditions must be met:
1. The words or other sounds used by the message source must be received by the hearer.
2. The listener must possess a set of meanings or referents for these sounds—the words need
to make sense.
Trying to hear in a noisy environment, dealing with a static-filled phone line, or encountering
people who speak too softly are examples of problems with the first precondition. These
can cause a breakdown in the ability to receive the message. Overhearing someone speaking a
strange foreign language or with a strong, unfamiliar accent is an obvious example of break-
down of the second precondition. If the sounds have no referent—they don’t refer to anything that
makes sense to us—we cannot understand. Listening is the way we put sounds and
theirmeanings together to create understanding.

environmental elements Affecting Listening

The listening process is also impacted by factors of the communication environment, which
determine what we are able to listen to and what we cannot. These factors can impact our indi-
vidual ability to listen and our organization’s listening capacity, as well. These factors include:
• Our individual listening capacity
• The presence of noise
• The use or misuse of gatekeepers
Individual Listening Capacity
Our listening capacity can be overburdened in two ways: It can be overloaded with too much
information, or it can be underutilized with too little. In both cases, listening tends to break down.
Think about how many messages clamor for your attention every day. You wake to a clock radio
and advertisers want you to listen. You catch a little TV with breakfast and newscasters,
politicians, and commercials try to get you to listen to what they have to say. On the way to work
or school, there are more radio ads. At work or in classes we have meetings and idea sharing
and lectures and discussions of all types. You can spend a huge portion of your day listening—
or tuning out. Why do some messages stick while others are never heard or soon forgotten?
Listening breakdowns happen when we exceed our listening capacity. Only a finite number
of messages can be heard and responded to in any given day; only so many phone calls can be
answered at one time. Only so many meetings or conversations can be processed, or
commercials pondered. Once our capacity for listening has been reached, we develop defensive
mechanisms for coping. We select what we will attend and what we will tune out.These selection
mechanisms, although often unconscious, are normally based on our needs, which, of course,
change from time to time. We do listen to auto ads when we are in the
market for a car, for example. When our capacity for paying attention to incoming information
is overloaded, we will tune out some messages.
When serving customers, our need is to create understanding regarding their needs and
wants. Professionalism requires that we, in fact, make such understanding a top priority at that
time.
When our listening capacity is greater than is being used, we may let our mind drift off-topic,
potentially missing important information. Most people speak at the rate of about 120 words per
minute (except for auctioneers or some disc jockeys), yet a normal capacity for listening—
assigning meanings to words—is about 500 words per minute. The problem, of course, is that we
listen faster than anyone can talk to us, providing ample time for our minds to wander far afield.
Listening to others becomes a tedious task, forcing us to slow down our thinking to stay
synchronized with, for example, the customer speaking to us. We will fill the gaps with irrelevant
thoughts.

The presence of noise is another environmental element affecting listening. Noise refers to those
sounds that are irrelevant to the conversation. It is important to note that noise may be either
environmental (the sound of machinery, other conversations, buzzers,
ringtones) or internal (a headache, our dislike of the person to whom we are listening,
preoccupation with another problem). Whatever the source, noise distracts us from the business
of listening.

the use or misuse of Gatekeepers One-way busy people deal with the problems of
exceeded listening capacity and excessive noise is through gatekeepers. The term gatekeeper
refers to one who previews incoming information to determine if it is appropriate to the needs of
the person the message is aimed at. If the message appears nonessential, the gatekeeper blocks
it from getting to the person. In this sense, a gatekeeper’s job is to do some of our listening for
us.
Managers almost always have at least one gatekeeper. This may be a secretary, administrative.
assistant, or any other person they turn to for organizational information. In many instances,
these individuals determine what needs the manager’s attention and what doesn’t.

LISTENING HABITS TO AVOID

Most of us didn’t become poor listeners overnight; we learned how over a period—we develop
poor listening habits. Here are some actions we can take to avoid common bad habits.

Action tip 1—stop talking

How is your listen–talk ratio? If you are like most people you talk a lot more than you listen and
that can be a problem. You can never become a better listener if you aren’t disciplined to be quiet
until others have expressed their thought fully.
Set a goal to boost your listen/talk ratio. Listening should typically be two or three times
greater than talking when dealing with customers.

Action tip 2—go to a good Place

Sometimes preparing to listen well means going to another location where you will not be inter-
rupted, where it’s more quiet or comfortable. Where we listen can have an impact on how we
listen. If your organization has physical barriers between you and customers such as a large
counter or desk, consider inviting the customer to sit somewhere more conducive to talking.
Executives sometimes run the risk of “hiding” behind their large desks, when coming around to
stand or sit where the customer can comfortably interact make a better listening environment.
Find places where you are less likely to be interrupted by other people or by noise. Just the
act of inviting a person to a better listening place can signal goodwill and a sincere willingness to
understand.

Action tip 3—Avoid faking Attention

Faking attention is an attempt to be polite to someone during a conversation and results in what
someone called the “wide asleep listener.” This is usually accomplished by looking directly at the
speaker when you are really thinking about something else, automatically nodding responses, or
even saying “yes” and “uh huh” to conversations you have mentally tuned out. When you have
agreed to listen to someone, commit yourself to expending the needed effort to listen and give
that conversation your active attention

Action tip 4—be Patient; Defer Disagreement

When a conversation appears to be too uninteresting, too hard to comprehend, or too time con-
suming to us—or if a customer starts repeating a story we’ve heard before—we may tune out.
Since we know there is plenty of thinking time between the speaker’s thoughts, we figure we
can switch back and forth between several conversations without losing any information. This
assumption is often incorrect and is a mark of poor listening.
Likewise, we may have a response to the customer’s “mistaken” point of view. Let them
have their say before “correcting” or debating what they say. Perhaps they have a valid argument
you have not heard before.
Customers can’t always communicate to you efficiently. Sometimes they don’t know the
terminology or exactly how to describe their problem. Be patient. Be sure they have had ample
opportunity to express themselves fully before you offer additional information or respectful
disagreement.

Action tip 5—Listen for more than the facts

Much of what people communicate are feelings, impressions, and emotions; the actual facts of
messages are often wrapped up in these. For example, an employee came to her manager’s
office,
and in the course of the conversation she appeared quite upset about something. When she
explained to the manager that her husband had just been terminated from his job, the manager
expressed what he thought was appropriate concern and soon changed the subject. Shortly after,
the employee abruptly left the office, apparently angry with the manager. He had listened to the
facts of what she’d said, but completely missed her meaning.
From the manager’s perspective, these were the facts:
1. Her husband was a very capable young executive who was unhappy with his present
employer and had been looking around for another company.
2. This couple was young, had no children, and had few financial burdens
3. Her husband had recently been offered another comparable position which he turned
down because it paid about the same as he was currently making.
4. Her husband had just lost his job.
In his listening process, the manager associated the new fact (4) with the facts he already
knew (1, 2, and 3) and concluded that there was no real serious problem. The husband would
find a new and probably better job soon.
So why did the employee storm out of the office? The manager had listened only for the
facts while the employee wanted to talk about feelings and concerns she had. She wanted him to
listen to what she was not saying—that she felt threatened by her husband’s loss of the job or
that she was embarrassed by his termination. What she needed was someone to share these
thoughts with, and perhaps get some comfort from. Many messages convey emotion as well as
information. Listening only for the facts is often not enough.
Customers almost always make buying decisions based on feelings and emotion. We don’t
just pay for the core product but rather seek some emotional gratification out of our purchases.
Buying an automobile is rarely simply acquiring a means to transport us from Point A to Point B.
We get gratification out of the prestige of a new car or the satisfaction of making a wise purchase.
If the salesperson is listening only for the facts, he or she may miss the emotional hook that helps
establish understanding—and a better relationship with the customer.

Action tip 6—bite your tongue before interrupting

We tend to interrupt people because we get impatient. We want them to get their point across
more quickly so that we can jump in and solve it. This, by the way, is a characteristic of men
more frequently than women. Women have often been socialized to engage in longer, more
supportive sharing of feelings, while men have often been socialized to get to the point and solve
the problem. (See the Another Look article below.)
Interrupting in the middle of the message can damage a conversation. Yes, you may need
to gain clarification of some points, but wait for an appropriate time to ask for that clarification
rather than abruptly interrupting. Hold back on frequent use of questions like “What do you mean?”
and “Why do you say that?” until you are sure the customer is finished. Then, if you need
clarification, ask for it.
A colleague mentioned a situation where she called a business and stated her name at
the beginning of the conversation. Before saying another word, the receptionist asked, “Who?”
It was abrupt and unpleasant. The receptionist and her company image would have been far
better served if she had waited for the caller to finish and then asked, “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your
name.” Interruptions—especially abrupt ones—can quickly damage customer service.
Positive stePs to better Listening
Avoidance of poor listening behaviors is only part of the process of becoming a good listener.
You also need to take some positive steps to improve your listening effectiveness. In doing so,
your customer service skills can dramatically improve. Here are some proactive behaviors that
lead to improvement.

Action tip 7—reinforce the Customer with Positive nonverbal and verbal Cues.
Especially in face-to-face interactions, nonverbal behaviors are critical. Appropriate responses
such as good eye contact, facial expression, appearing concerned, nodding, and reinforcing to
show agreement and understanding are examples of nonverbal behaviors that contribute to
better listening.
Verbally, we can improve communication by using “continuers” such as uh huh, I see, or
I can see why you’d be upset. These types of comments tend to let the customer know that you
are listening and to encourage them to fully express their thoughts.

Action tip 8—solicit Clarification

When customers are being unclear, it is important that we tactfully let them know it. We some-
times don’t do this because:
• We think we will sound uninformed.
• We think we can figure the message out on our own—eventually.
• We don’t want to take the time or expend the effort to make sure we understand.
By failing to ask for clarification, we rely too heavily on our own guesses in interpreting
messages. When you ask questions about the meanings of a message, any implication that you
lack knowledge will be more than made up for by your sincere desire to understand. This is flat-
tering to others. It conveys a regard for people who speak to you. When you solicit clarification,
ask open-ended questions or use a phrase such as, “Help me understand.” For example, “Help
me understand. You felt that the service you received was not what you had expected.” These
comments open the door for further description by the customer.

Action tip 9—minimize the number of gatekeepers

As previously noted, gatekeepers result in our listening to someone else’s version of the mes-
sage. Whenever possible, avoid sending an intermediary to get the story from the source and
then report back to you. Avoid requesting that someone tell his or her story to your assistant and
then let that person synthesize the information for you. Get customer concerns directly from the
proverbial horse’s mouth. The more people the message must go through, the more likely the
message will be distorted.
You’ll notice this recommendation was prefaced with “whenever possible.” A top com-
pany executive cannot listen to every customer directly. A manager may be handling thousands
of accounts and can be overloaded with too many messages. To reduce information overload
managers should develop a clear policy on which situations need their direct personal atten-
tion and which can be satisfactorily handled by others in the organization. Problems that can be
handled at lower levels in the organization should be handled at lower levels itself. A customer
problem requiring a decision should go only as far as the lowest ranking person authorized to
make the decision. And the best companies empower people at all levels in an organization to
solve problems.
That said, companies should also have clear escalation policies—procedures that tell
which kinds of issues or concerns should be referred to people up the chain of command.
For example, routine refunds should be authorized up to a certain dollar figure by first-line
employees while larger refunds need to be approved by supervisors. Or, escalation may be auto-
matic when a customer feels he has been treated unethically or has been discriminated against
in
ways that other customers would not be.
Action tip 10—try Counterattitudinal Advocacy
Counterattitudinal advocacy (CAA) is a big term for a simple process. It means to take the
other person’s position—to advocate or express a point of view that runs counter to your own
attitude. The objective of CAA is to reduce the degree to which a listener listens through his
or her own biases. Counterattitudinal advocacy forces you to listen objectively until you truly
understand, rather than to listen only until you think of a response or counterargument.
Here is how CAA works: You, as a listener, simply make a commitment to restate and defend the
position that is counter to your attitude, that is, opposite to your position. Say, for
example, a customer feels that the company doesn’t care about the environment. You could
immediately tell that customer about all the environmentally friendly things the company does,
but, using CAA, you hold back. Instead, you honestly try to restate to that customer exactly what
you hear him or her expressing. This, of course, includes both the facts and the emotions you
think the customer is conveying. Use your own words to express the idea you hear the other
person saying. You may say, “You see our company as being harmful by erecting too many signs
that are visually unattractive and make the neighborhood look junky.” Then ask if your
interpretation is accurate. If not, restate it again until agreement is reached. What happens is this:
By committing yourself to restate and defend someone else’s position, you must listen more
effectively to that position in order to understand what you are defending. This more accurate
listening provides a basis for solving the problem. By articulating a position counter to your own,
you force yourself to consider the information that you may have avoided when advancing your
own position. You have forced yourself to listen to ideas through someone else’s biases. The
result is a better understanding of the entire situation, rather than
just your position.
This process does not oblige you to cave into the views of others when you honestly disagree. It
simply provides one way of better understanding where those you disagree with come from. In
some cases, disagreements evaporate when we clarify each other’s position. We
may recognize that we don’t really disagree in principle; we are simply expressing similar ideas
in different or confusing ways. At any rate, clearer understanding forms a basis for problem
resolution.

Action tip 11—take notes.

Should you take notes when listening to a customer? Depending on the circumstances, there
may be some real advantages to doing so. Note-taking conveys that you are sincerely interested
in understanding.
Of course, when taking notes, jot down only key ideas and important facts that may help you to
listen and remember more effectively. Don’t try to write down everything word for word.
Let the customer see you taking the notes (or tell him or her that you are doing so if you are on
the phone). Most customers will be flattered that you are taking their input so seriously. Note-
taking can show that you are committed to listening and understanding the customer. Few
people would be offended by such a show of concern.

A FINAL THOUGHT
Most thoughtful people recognize the need for careful listening. We spend more time listening
than any other communication activity. Of all the sources of information we have when dealing
with customers, listening is the most important. No tool rivals skilled and sympathetic listening
to build stronger customer relationships.
How do we motivate others to listen? A cartoon showed the boss talking to employees at a
meeting saying, “Now pay careful attention. I’ll let you know at the end of the meeting who will
write up the minutes.” When everyone in the organization begins to listen as though they were
going to have to write up the minutes, understanding will advance in a quantum leap.
If we give undivided attention to our customers, coworkers, and associates, we will see a
dramatic improvement in our ability to meet customer needs and win their loyalty. Such listening
improvement starts at home; it starts with us.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL: DEVELOPING CUSTOMER LOYALTY FOR LIFE

The ultimate goal of customer service is to create customer loyalty. Understanding loyalty—
what
makes your customer loyal and how to measure this—enables a company or person to improve
customer-driven service quality.
To best understand what customer loyalty is it is useful to first recognize what it is not.
Customer loyalty is sometimes mistaken for:
• Customer satisfaction alone. Satisfaction is a necessary component, but a customer may be
satisfied today but not necessarily loyal to you in the future.
• A response to some trial offer or special incentive. You can’t buy loyalty; you must earn it.
• Large share of the market. You may have a large percentage of the customersfor a
-particular
product or service for reasons other than customer loyalty to you. Perhaps your competi-
tors are poor or your current prices are more attractive.
• Repeat buying alone. Some people buy as a result of habit, convenience, or price but
would
be quick to defect to an alternative.
Recognizing counterfeit loyalty is important. It can lull you into a false sense of security
while your competition may be building real customer loyalty.
Customer Loyalty
So, what exactly is customer loyalty? A more reliable definition has evolved in recent years.
Considerable empirical research concludes that customer loyalty is best defined as a composite
of three important characteristics:
• It reflects overall satisfaction. Low or erratic levels of satisfaction disqualify a company
from earning customer loyalty. Satisfaction is necessary but not sufficient for gaining
loyalty.
• It involves a commitment on the part of the customer to make a sustained investment in an
ongoing relationship with a company.
• It manifests in customer behaviors, including
• repeat buying (or the intention to do so as needed)
• willingness to recommend the company to others
• a commitment to the company demonstrated by a resistance to switch to a competitor
More recent research by the Gallup polling organization validates these elements and takes
the concept a bit further by describing customer “engagement” as a critical variable. In a 2003
article, the Gallup Management Journal questions the intuitively obvious link between loyalty
and profitability. The researchers conclude that some kinds of customer loyalty may not be
profitable. Specifically, they say that “repeated purchase behavior [that] has been motivated—
or bribed—by a company’s gifts, discounts, or other purchase rewards” may not be profitable.

Customers may simply be exploiting the company or milking a special incentive. These custom-
ers aren’t really loyal; they’re just customers who haven’t left—yet. Similarly, the uncommitted
may appear to be loyal, but they only remain customers out of habit, convenience, or because
it’s
a hassle to switch to another provider. These uncommitted customers, however, are susceptible
to the incentives and discounts competitors will offer them to switch.
If you fail to make an emotional connection with customers, satisfaction is worthless. Gallup
concludes that customer engagement with the organizations they buy from becomes a priceless
resource for those organizations. Several case studies reveal that fully engaged customers—
that
is, customers who are both satisfied and emotionally connected to a store—visit the store more
often and spend more money.
One company that acts in ways that truly value customer relationships is Zappos, the
Internet marketing giant. In his remarkable book, Delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony
Hsieh illustrates how the company encourages behaviors that build relationships not just closes
sales. “At Zappos [call centers], we don’t measure call times (our longest phone call was almost
six hours long!), and we don’t up sell. We just care about whether the rep goes above and
beyond
for the customer. We don’t have scripts because we trust our employees to use their best judg-
ment when dealing with each and every customer. We want our reps to let their true
personalities
shine during each phone call so that they can develop a personal emotional connection. . .with
the
customer.”7
Customer loyalty achieved through establishing positive relationships is the highest goal of
our service efforts. Again quoting Hsieh at Zappos, “. . .we’re not trying to maximize each and
every transaction. Instead, we’re trying to build a lifelong relationship with each customer, one
phone call at a time.

(Final Thoughts
Customer service skills provide the most significant arena for career success. Whether you work
for a huge corporation or you run a lemonade stand, you live and die by what your customers
think of you. Service to internal customers—employees—can be equally important as service
to external customers. All the principles of customer service we will discuss in this book can be
applied to employee relationships.
Core competencies for customer service are the same as those that determine profes-
sional and personal success in many realms. Mastering these competencies will serve you in
countless ways.
In careers, your number-one task, regardless of your job title, organizational position,
experience, or seniority, will always be to attract, satisfy, and preserve loyal customers. Your
author welcomes the opportunity to explore these vital ideas with you.)

Gaining Insight: What Turns Customers Off?

Winning a battle requires knowing the enemy. The first tactic in our quest to win at customer
service is to know what turns people off. What kinds of things can lead to a serious risk of losing
a customer, associate, or employee—perhaps forever?
“What kinds of things do turn customers off?” Research by your author analyzed almost
2,000 open-ended comments. The data identified three categories of customer turnoffs that
disqualify organizations from earning loyalty: value, systems, and people. We will elaborate on
these categories in this chapter. The data also revealed that the following 10 turnoffs accounted
for 97 percent of all comments cited by the study’s participants:

VALUE TURNOFFS: These include such things as:

• Poor guarantee or failure to back up products
• Quality not as good as expected
• Price too high for value received
• Overly complicated or difficult-to-use products
SYSTEMS TURNOFFS: These include such thing as:
• Slow service or help not available
• Business place dirty, messy, or cluttered
• Low selection or poor availability of product
• Inconvenient location, layout, parking, or access
PEOPLE TURNOFFS: These include the kinds of behavioral things we discussed in
Chapter 2 such as:
• Lack of courtesy, friendliness, or attention
• Employees who lack knowledge or are not helpful
• Sloppy appearance, poor grooming, or annoying mannerisms
• Distracting clothing, piercing, or tattoos

Follow-up interviews and further study seem to confirm that these categories provide a
useful framework for identifying root causes of customer dissatisfaction. Let’s look at each in
more depth.
Value Turnoffs
A fundamental turnoff for customers is the feeling that they receive poor value from a
product or service. In short, shoddy products or sloppy work can put customers through
the roof.
Poor Quality Relative to Price Can Be a Value Turn-Off Value can be simply
defined as quality relative to price paid. If you purchase an inexpensive, throwaway item at a
discount store—say a 79 cent pen—you may not be upset if it doesn’t last very long. But buy a
$79 gold fountain pen (probably called a “writing instrument” since it costs so much) that leaks
in your shirt pocket and you’d be furious.
If you sign a contract for a gym membership and personal trainer but the trainer is tone-
deaf to your particular needs, you’ll experience a value turnoff. If you make a major purchase of
an automobile, appliance, computer, or professional service and it quits working or fails to meet
your needs, you will experience a value turnoff.
Top Leaders Define the “Value Proposition” The major responsibility for provid-
ing customers with appropriate value (and avoiding value turnoffs) lies with the top leadership
of the organization. It’s the executive decision makers in a company who determine the prod-
ucts or services that will be sold. They define what marketers call the value proposition—what
the company intends to exchange with its customers. In a one-person enterprise, the owner
determines the quality/pricing formula which defines value. If you run a lemonade stand, you
determine how many lemons and how much sugar you will use. (Ideally, you check with your
customers to see how they like it.) If you start an auto sales business, you will need to choose if
you want to sell Hyundai or Lexus, Ford or Lincoln. You may opt for a new car dealership or a
preowned car lot that specializes in low-cost, basic transportation. If you offer tax preparation
services, you will need to decide whether you hire clerks who input data into software programs
or certified accountants who can advise clients on tax planning.
Any of these strategies can work fine but the perception of value (product quality relative
to price) may be different in the eyes of your customers.

Value is a function of a
product’s quality relative
to its price.

While other people in an organization can affect value, the top leaders bear the major
responsibility for ensuring an appropriate value proposition. The responsibility for minimizing
value turnoffs lies with them.
Systems Turnoffs
Say the word systems and many people think of computers or phones. In the context of
customer
service, however, the term systems is broader than that. The term is used here to describe any
process, procedure, or policy used to “deliver” the product or service to the customer. Systems
are
the processes we use to get value to our customer. When seen like this, systems will also
include
such nontechy things as:
• Company location, layout, parking facilities, phone accessibility
• Employee training and staffing
• Record-keeping or order-writing systems for handling customer transactions
• Policies regarding guarantees and product returns
• Delivery or pick-up services
• Merchandise displays
• Customer follow-up procedures
• Billing and accounting processes
Managers Are Responsible for Organizational Systems The responsibility for
minimizing system turnoffs lies with managers in most organizations. This is because systems
changes often require spending organizational resources (e.g., for new locations, remodel-
ing, additional staffing and training, and added delivery services) which must be authorized
by managers. Nonmanagement employees can and should be involved in suggesting systems
changes, however. Management can get some of its best change ideas from employees at all
levels. But ultimately, a manager must initiate and provide resources for a systems/process
change.
How important are systems? While every organization needs systems for doing business
in a consistent and orderly manner, some people argue that the majority of customer service

Systems turnoffs have to

do with any process, pro-
cedure, or policy associated
with getting goods and
services to customers.

System turnoffs must be

addressed by managers who
have the authority to spend
money to fix them.

turnoffs are caused by systems mistakes or the illogical application of systems. The converse,
however, is true as well.
Lack of Consistency Is Often a Systems Turn-Off Business consultant Michael
Gerber believes that systems may well be the most important key to business success. He cites
hamburger giant McDonald’s as an example. In an excerpt from a brochure advertising Gerber’s
“The E-Myth Seminar,” Gerber describes working with a client named Murray, who was so tied
up in the day-to-day work of his business that he failed to grow a successful company. Gerber
calls this episode “The Day I Fell in Love with McDonald’s.” His description helps us better
understand the importance of good systems.
When my meeting with Murray ended, I was exhausted. I had pages of notes,
hours of conversations swirling in my head, and a long drive home. I needed a few
minutes to collect my thoughts. So, I pulled into a McDonald’s to grab a bite and
sort out my notes.
He goes on to talk about being confused and not knowing where to start with his
client Murray’s company. Murray loved his product and had big dreams for the future. But
Gerber felt that something was wrong, something he couldn’t put his finger on. And then it
hit him:
Maybe its fate, but that day was the first time I was in a McDonald’s twice in
the same day. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I watched a lady approach
the counter, and the young girl who was serving asked if she could take her order.
Nothing out of the ordinary. But there was something about what happened that
caught my interest. It was both what she said and her manner of saying it.
He goes on to say that he’d been to McDonald’s restaurants from coast-to-coast, was
served by all types of employees, and, regardless of where he was or who served him, felt com-
fortable, because he knew what to expect and felt in control of his experience. He goes on to
conclude that
at that moment I knew the secret of McDonald’s success. Wow! What an amazing
discovery. Instantly I could see that this secret can work in any business. . . The
essence of the secret. . .that they have a system for everything. Regardless of who is
working on a shift, the entire staff is taught the system. . . .There is no indecision.
No confusion. No hesitation. No sour faces. No frustrated looks. Everything works
like a well-oiled machine.
Gerber’s observations illustrate the importance of effective systems in any business.
It is clear, effective systems that can create comfort and confidence for both employees and
customers. Failure to design and train people on effective systems not only negates the useful-
ness of systems but can result in customer service turnoffs.
To repeat an important reminder: “Systems turnoffs” refer to much more than technol-
ogy. In the context of customer service, “systems” encompass a wide range of factors ranging
from product selection, business location, policies and procedures, customer convenience and
comfort efforts, staffing, employee training, and, of course, technology systems as well. As you
can imagine, systems problems include a multitude of sins.
When transactions are unnecessarily complicated, inefficient, or troublesome for people
as customers or employees, they experience systems turnoffs. Complaints about long lines,
slow service, poor selection, untrained employees, workplace appearance, and poor signage
are
examples of systems problems.

Consultant Ron Kaufman tells of a poor service experience that he said was “enough
to make me wonder whether anyone is listening at all!” For example, there’s the case of “The
Conference Rate” at Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles:2
Kaufman was making arrangements to attend a large Conference in Los Angeles. As a fre-
quent flyer, he had many award coupons offering a 60 percent discount from usual hotel rates.
He called Hilton Hotels in California to make his reservations.

(The reservations clerk was infinitely helpful. First, she took my name, then my contact
numbers. She confirmed the dates, my room preference and credit card number. She
asked if I was a Hilton Honors Club member, which I was not. She signed me up on
the spot and then remarked: “Now that you are a Hilton Honors Club member, I can
offer you an even lower rate, and an upgraded Towers room on a higher floor. A fruit
basket will be waiting for you upon arrival.” I was delighted. And my special discount
rate was just US$85 per night.
In signing off, I said, “Thank you for your help. I am looking forward to staying
at the Hilton during the conference.” “The conference?” she shot back quickly. “What
conference are you attending?”
I replied that I was attending the American Society for Training and
Development’s 50th Annual Conference at Disneyland. She said quickly,
“Mr. Kaufman, if you are attending a conference during your stay, you must use our
special conference rate of US$112.” I laughed at her proposal and stated that I was
happy with the special rate she had already confirmed on my behalf. “Oh no,” she
repeated. “If you are coming for a conference, you must use the special conference
rate. We have a block of rooms set aside for conference participants on a lower floor.
These rooms are specially reserved for the people who are attending the conference.”
My protests were to no avail. She checked with her supervisor, who concurred.
“I’m sorry, but that’s our policy,” she said without much concern. I surrendered to her
insistence, listened as she cancelled my Hilton Honors Club reservation, declined to
have her book me back into the same hotel at the higher conference rate, and hung up
the phone in disbelief.
I called right back. I reached a different reservations clerk and made another
reservation. I used my frequent flyer award coupon and the new Hilton Honors Club
membership number I had received in the previous phone call. This time I kept my
mouth shut about attending any conference!
I paid just US$85 when I went to Los Angeles. I enjoyed the Hilton Towers
room and enjoyed the complimentary fruit basket upon arrival. No thanks to Hilton’s
absurd policy and customer-unfriendly procedures, though.)

Required Log-In May Be a System Turnoff More businesses are recognizing

the frustration for customers when they are required to log-in in order to shop. When you walk
into a department store, clerks don’t ask for your name and password before letting you shop.
A common online procedure has become a systems turnoff for many customers.
Of course, the requirement to have customers register before shopping has advantages
which many customers appreciate. For example, if you expect to do repeat business with the
company (say, you plan to keep shopping on Amazon.com), their having your shipping informa-
tion and your credit card number provides quick checkout convenience. But customers should
not be forced to do so. Companies need to think through the trade-off between what’s
potentially
good for the company (customer data for possible marketing, convenience in fulfilling an order,
etc.) with what’s good for the customer (ease of use, quick service, etc.). At least allow the
option
of shopping without registering.
Turnoffs arise when company benefit outweighs customer benefit. If the company forces cus-
tomers to do something solely because it benefits the company, the turnoff likelihood will be
high.
Systems Turnoffs Include Excessively Slow Service Research shows that a
Number 1 turnoff for many customers is slow service. One of the first frustrations people cite
is slow service or having to wait. We live in a society that values speed and efficiency and that
resents things that slow us down.
Employees who lack the knowledge to answer customer questions and organizations that
have just one person capable of fulfilling a key function are likely to deliver slow service.
Telephone
menus that are unnecessarily complicated (press 1 for such and such, 2 for so and so, etc.)
may annoy
customers if they slow down the service. Repetitious paperwork requirements (such as requiring
that you complete name/address/SS number, etc. of every form) or lack of convenient parking
or
accessible locations can lead to needlessly slow service and are examples of systems
problems.
Company systems determine the speed of service because they involve staffing, layout of the
business, accessibility, efficiency of delivery, employee-efficiency training, and so on. Once
again,
the responsibility for implementing and maintaining effective systems lies with a company’s
man-
agement because decisions to add personnel, provide additional training, change locations,
imple-
ment new delivery methods, or even rearranging the office layout require spending money.
Automatic Billing May Be a Systems Turn-Off Companies love to have people agree
to automatic billing or renewals of service contracts. On one level, these can provide a conve-
nience to customers, but for some they result in renewed services the customer may no longer
want or need. Gym memberships or newspaper or magazine subscription—even charitable
donations—that automatically bill the customer can accumulate leaving customers frustrated or
upset. Yes, you can keep a customer using fine print renewals but you do so at the cost of
damag-
ing the relationship. It has become a common occurrence for people, when reviewing their credit
card statements, to be surprised by an unnoticed auto-payment for something no longer
wanted.
People Turnoffs
Our third category, people turnoffs, almost always arises from communication problems.
Employees who fail to communicate appropriately, both verbally (with words) and nonverbally
(without words), can quickly irritate a customer. Some examples of people turnoffs are as
follows:
• Employees who fail to greet or even smile at a customer
• People who give inaccurate information or convey a lack of knowledge
• Employees chatting among themselves or allowing telephone interruptions while
ignoring
a customer
• Behaviors that project a rude or uncaring attitude
• Sales tactics that come across as high pressure
• Work locations that appear dirty or sloppy
• Employees who are dressed inappropriately or have poor grooming
• Employees with body piercing, tattoos (although such personal choices may be
appropri-
ate for certain clientele)
• Any communicated message that causes the customer to feel uncomfortable

All Employees Are Responsible for Minimizing People Turn-Offs

Employees at all organizational levels can create satisfaction versus motivation, often
unconsciously. In most cases these turnoffs arise because people fail to understand how they
come across to other people. Everyone interested in having a successful career would be wise
to
become constant students of communication. Even the most subtle or unconscious behaviors
can communicate the wrong messages and result in lost customers.
People turnoffs make customers feel discounted. They arise when employees who repre-
sent the company project inappropriate behaviors, indifferent attitudes, or mechanical tone (as
we discussed in Chapter 2). People turnoffs include such things as rudeness, poor nonverbal
behaviors such as lack of eye contact, inappropriate dress and grooming, autocratic bosses,
and
any behaviors that convey a low level of caring or consideration for others.
Responsibility for reducing people turnoffs lies with every employee. Often people are
unaware of how their behaviors communicate. Training can help raise awareness, but ultimately
the individual staff member will decide how he or she will interact with customers and other
employees.

Hire Good People-People Because teaching specific behaviors is often difficult, hiring
people with good attitudes and interpersonal skills is especially important. Some successful
employers constantly recruit people they have seen working in other customer situations.
When they meet a person in another business who gives them great service, they encourage
that person to join their company. One man who owns a chain of restaurants carries extra busi-
ness cards to give to people he gets to meet in other transactions. When such a person does a
great job selling him shoes or handling a billing problem, he hands them a card and asks them
to contact him if they ever want to consider another job. Notice that these people may have
noexperience in the restaurant business, but their customer service skills are “transferrable”—
they can be taught the specifics of the restaurant business. What they bring to the job are excel-
lent service skills and attitudes.
People communicate the way they do because they have learned that behavior. Changes
come slowly and only with considerable effort. The best way to change communication behavior
(or help others do so) is by raising awareness, modeling new behaviors, having people try the
new behavior, and reinforcing the improvement. Companies can benefit from using scripts or
scripted phrases and from clearly identifying communication taboos—certain messages, terms,
and nonverbal behaviors that are unacceptable. Typically such taboos include crude or profane
language, degrading comments about others (including competitors), or slovenly appearance.
In fairness, some people are unaware of how their behaviors come across to others. They
may be tone-deaf to the ways they communicate or fail to communicate. Training can help raise
awareness, but ultimately the individual staff member will decide how he or she will interact with
customers and other employees. Hopefully, they will realize the impact of poor skills on their
career and their organization

Communication turnoffs
often result when employees
are ignorant of the kinds of
“messages” they are sending
 to customers.

Companies benefit from

identifying certain com-
munication taboos—words
or phrases that should be
avoided.

Customer recovery can substantially impact profitability. Studies indicate that money and effort.
invested in recovering lost customers come back to the company many times over. Numerous
organizations calculate that customer retention efforts return $2 for every dollar invested.
In addition, “recovered” customers gave the airlines more of their business after they have.
been won back. This is consistent with the rationale for gathering good feedback discussed in
Chapter 8. A saved customer tends to be a better customer.

By contrast, unrecovered customers do a great deal of damage. Various surveys conclude.

the following:1
• 60 percent of those who read about a bad customer service experience online stop or avoid
doing business with the company involved
• 79 percent of customers who have a negative customer experience told others about it
• 85 percent said they wanted to warn others about their bad experience
Chapter 9 • Recover the Potentially Lost Customer 143
• 65 percent wanted to dissuade others from doing business with the offending brand
• 76 percent indicated that word of mouth had influenced their purchasing decision

Customer recovery isn’t

always easy, but it is
tremendously profitable

Many companies miss a huge opportunity when they fail to proactively seek to recover
lost customers—to repair damage to customer relationships. The problem starts with the fact
that many companies don’t even know how many customers they are losing. Service expert
Jill Griffin of loyaltysolutions.com cites a nationwide study that found that up to 50 percent of
marketing and sales managers could not identify their company’s percentage of annual
customer
loss. Those who thought they did know their firm’s defection rates said it averages 7–8 percent,
when in fact, their companies were losing 20 percent or more of their customers every year.
Another national study showed that 43 percent of sales managers and 47 percent of
marketing managers said they did not conduct defection interviews thus depriving their compa-
nies of insight about root causes of defection. And even when companies do interview departing
customers, they may not get the real reasons. Studies show that newly departed customers are
often reluctant to tell why they left. They may be embarrassed to explain why they’re leaving.
Instead they will give an easy reason for defection, like “I am moving” or “I don’t need the prod-
ucts anymore.” It’s often better to wait a month or two to get the real facts. Getting accurate exit
interview information can be challenging unless gathered with sensitivity. You need to win the
defecting customer’s trust (which has probably been damaged) in order to gain honest
responses.
A study by Paramus, New Jersey-based Marketing Metrics, found firms have a much better
chance of winning business from lost customers than from new prospects. The research found
the average firm has a
• 60–70 percent probability of successfully selling again to “active” customers,
• 20–40 percent probability of successfully selling to lost customers,
• and only a 5–20 percent probability of making a successful sale to new prospects.
If you win the customer back, they enter a second life with you. This second life cycle (the
recovered customer) can differ greatly from the “first life cycle” of the same customer in at least
four ways:
1. The recovered customer is already familiar with the products and services you offer. You
don’t have to teach him or her about what you can do.
2. You are likely to have more data about the likes and dislikes of this particular customer
than about any first-time customer and can offer a more targeted service.
3. The customer may feel flattered by your efforts to win him or her back. This can often lead
to sales greater than that generated by newly recruited first-time customers.
4. The length of the “prospect phase” and the “new customer phase” would arguably be
shorter in the second life cycle than in the first one. The customer will become acclimated
to doing business with you more quickly.
We talked in Chapter 6 about the importance of reducing turnoffs. These efforts are worth-
while, but reality tells us that we cannot predict with certainty (let alone prevent) every possible
customer complaint. In short, dissatisfaction happens. What we choose to do about it can go
a long way toward creating customer loyalty. It’s not always easy, but saving customers can be
enormously profitable. Effective complaint handling begins with the right attitudes coupled with
the skills we’ll discuss in this chapter.

The customer is always

right” may not be a good
motto. Better to think about
win-win relationships, not
who is right and who is
wrong.

maintain healthy attitUdes aboUt CUstomer reCovery

The best attitudes stem from the desire for a win-win relationship with the customer. Both
parties
want to feel good about the business transacted. This is not necessarily a “customer is always
right” attitude. The issue is not whether the customer or the company is right. The attitude is one
of cooperation and problem solving that won a loyal customer.
 Always see customer
complaints as challenging
opportunities to cement
relationships
In addition to a problem-solving rather than blame-setting attitude, service recovery is
best handled when seen as an attitude of opportunity rather than a painful chore. Granted,
most of us would prefer not to hear about customers’ dissatisfaction. That’s human nature. But
given that dissatisfaction does occur, an attitude of accepting the opportunity and challenge can
be useful. Customer complaints are opportunities to cement relationships. The vast majority of
such relationships are worth saving, although occasionally—I stress occasionally—we need to
let go of the chronic complainer, as we’ll discuss later in this chapter.
An attitude of opportunity begins with an understanding that complaints are triggers for
improvement. There can be no positive change without negative (corrective) feedback. And
much of corrective feedback comes to us disguised as complaints.
No one likes to hear complaints, but they are truly opportunities for possible change,
not reasons for defensiveness. Carefully track the number of complaints and resolution. More
important, complaints must be relayed to the appropriate organizational areas to minimize re-
occurrences. Remember that a rising number of complaints is usually a sign of success, not
failure. Often, complaining customers are the ones most committed to a band. British Airways
found that 87 percent of customers who complained did not defect.

Defensiveness against
feedback is the enemy
of improvement.

Defensiveness is the enemy of improvement. To succeed at customer service, we need to

work very hard to reduce defensiveness and focus on how the dissatisfied customer can be our
best friend!

develop yoUr reCovery skills

To reduce the negative ripple effects of “unrecovered” customers, we need to develop recovery
skills. As the name implies, we try to recover the potentially lost customer. We can do this best
by applying the following ideas:

feel their pain

The first step in developing recovery skills is to recognize that upset customers are likely to be
disappointed, angry, frustrated, or even in pain, and they blame you to some extent. Typically
they want you to do some or all of the following:
• Listen to their concerns and take them seriously.
• Understand their problem and the reason they are upset.
• Share their sense of urgency; get their problem handled quickly.
• Compensate them or provide restitution for their dissatisfaction or inconvenience.
• Eliminate further inconvenience.
• Treat them with respect and empathy.
• See that someone is punished for the problem (sometimes).
• Assure them the problem will not happen again (to them or others).
You may not need to do all of these things in every situation, but typically the upset
customer requires several of them. Feel their pain.
Go beyond: offer “symbolic atonement”
Give the upset customer
some symbolic repayment
for his or her problem.
Although this sounds like a religious term, we are really talking about something more down-
to-earth. Symbolic atonement simply means giving something to the customer to make up
for the problem he or she has had. It is voluntary—you are rarely required to give back—and
shows a sense of caring. Often it cannot fully repair the damage, but it symbolically indicates
that you are trying. It’s the “something extra” you give to appease the customer and help win
him back.
This atonement is called symbolic because, in some cases, you cannot fully repay the
customer. For example, if a person complains about having to wait 15 minutes on hold, you
cannot give her back those 15 minutes. But you can give some token that recognizes her incon-
venience. You cannot fully repay a customer who has to take time and energy to return a faulty
product, but you can give him something to express your appreciation that he went to the
trouble.
What other kinds of things can we do to make up for customer problems? Chapters 10
through 12 of this book will deal in much more depth with this topic. Meanwhile, to give you a
few examples of symbolic atonement, here are a few possible ideas that could be seen as going
the
extra mile with a complaining customer.
• Offer to pick up or deliver the goods to be replaced or repaired. Auto companies got a lot
of
mileage out of offering to pick up recalled cars for product defects rather than have cus-
toms bring them in.
• Give a gift of merchandise to repay for the inconvenience. The gift may be small, but the
thought will be appreciated. Things like a free dessert for the restaurant customer who
endures slow service or extra copies of a print job to offset a minor delay are examples. It’s
the thought that counts.
• Reimburse for costs of returning merchandise such as parking fees, etc. (Mail-order
retailers
often pay all return postage fees to reduce customer annoyance and inconvenience.)
• Acknowledge the customer’s inconvenience and thank him or her for giving you the
opportunity to try to make it right. A sincere apology can go a long way. Make the word-
ing of the apology sincere and personal. Say “I’m sorry you had to wait,” rather than “The
company regrets the delay.” Empathy can be expressed with statements like, “I know how
aggravating it can be to . . . ” or “I hate when that happens, and I’m sorry you had to go
through . . . ”
• Follow up to see that the problem was handled. Don’t assume the customer’s difficulty has
been fixed unless you handled it yourself and have checked with the customer to see that
the fix held up.
You may not have the authority to do all of these things (although many of these cost
practically nothing). But you can go to bat for the customer with your boss. Just your being the
customer’s advocate can help reduce much of the problem. If all goes well, you should feel a
genuine sense of satisfaction after handling an unhappy or irate customer.

If you don’t have the

authority to do what’s
needed to save the cus-
tomer, become his or her
advocate. Go to bat for the
customer with your boss

look back and learn from each situation

When a difficult customer situation has cooled, review it with an eye toward improving your
skills. Think about how you used your recovery skills, and ask yourself questions like these:
• What was the nature of the customer’s complaint? Was it generated primarily by value,
systems, or people turnoffs?
• How did the customer see the problem? Who was to blame; what irritated the customer
most; why was he or she angry or frustrated?
• How did I see the problem? Was the customer partially to blame?
• What did I say to the customer that helped the situation?
• What did I say or do that seemed to aggravate the situation, if anything?
• How did I show my concern to the customer?
• What would I do differently?
• Do I think this customer will do business with me/us again? Why or why not?
Making careful notes of your responses to these questions can build your confidence and
Professionalism

Understand your own reactions if the Customer is still not satisfied

Often you can professionally recover an unhappy customer, but not always. People are not
always agreeable or even rational, so sometimes you too get upset. Working with customers
involves what organizational researchers call emotional labor. This term means we sometimes
need to do things that we don’t much feel like doing. For example, our job may call for us to be
upbeat and pleasant even when we don’t feel that way (and we all have our less-than-chirpy
days). Professionalism requires that we do everything possible to avoid letting our anger or
frustrations damage our interactions.
Listed below are the key things to remember:
• If you try your best to satisfy the customer, you have done all that you can do.
• Don’t take it personally. Upset people often say things they don’t really mean. They are
blowing off steam, venting frustration. If the problem was really your fault, resolve to learn from
the experience and do better next time. If you have no control over the situation, do what you
can, but don’t bat your head against the wall.
• Don’t rehash the experience with your coworkers or in your own mind. What’s done is done.
Recounting the experience with others probably won’t make their day any better, and
rehashing it to yourself will just make you mad. You may, however, want to ask another person
how he would have handled the situation.
Building service skills is an ongoing professional activity. Looking back on both positive
and negative experiences can be very fruitful in providing guidance for future actions. Learn
from your successes and your failures.

handle the oCCasional CUstomer from hell

“Stubbornness is the energy of fools,” says a German proverb. Sometimes we need to draw the
line between upset customers with legitimate problems and excessively chronic complainers
who consume our time with unreasonable demands—the dreaded “customer from hell.” These
folks can create emotional hard labor for us!
Here are some action tips for dealing with these challenging people:

action tip 1—be sure this really is a Chronic Complainer

Step one in dealing with such people is to be sure you’ve got a chronic complainer. When
you’ve
tried the normal recovery approaches and nothing seems to work, look for the following telltale
signs of CCs:
• They always look for someone to blame. In their world accidents don’t happen: someone is
always at fault, and it’s probably you.
• They never admit any degree of fault or responsibility. They see themselves as blameless
and victims of the incompetence or malice of others.
• They have strong ideas about what others should do. They love to define other people’s
duties. If you hear a complaint phrased exclusively in terms of what other people always,
never, must, or must not do, you may be talking to a chronic complainer.
• They complain at length. While normal complainers pause for breath every now and then,
chronics seem able to inhale while saying the words, “and another thing . . . ”

action tip 2—know What to do with this Guy (or Gal)

When you are certain that you are faced with that occasional chronic complainer (they really are
quite rare, fortunately), try these techniques:
• Actively listen to identify the legitimate grievance beneath the endless griping. Rephrase
the complainer’s main points in your own words, even if you have to interrupt to do so. Say
something like, “Excuse me, but do I understand you to say that the package didn’t arrive
on time and you feel frustrated and annoyed?”
• Establish the facts to reduce the complainer’s tendency to exaggerate or overgeneralize.
If he says he “tried calling all day but as usual you tried to avoid me,” establish the actual
number of times he called and when.
• Resist the temptation to apologize, although that may seem to be the natural thing to do.
Since the main thing the complainer is trying to do is fix blame—not solve problems—
your apology will be seen as an open invitation to further blaming. Instead, ask questions
like, “Would an extended warranty solve your problem?” or “When would be the best time
for me to call you back with that information?”
• Force the complainer to pose solutions to the problem, especially if he doesn’t seem
to like your ideas. Also, try putting a time limit on the conversation by saying some-
thing like “I have to talk with someone in 10 minutes. What sort of action plan can we
work out in that time?” The object of this is to get him away from whining and into a
problem-solving mode.
action tip 3—take a break, Cool off, reflect
High-stress customer contact employees need breaks. Emotional labor is very hard work. Its
difficulty
is not limited to just handling complaints. Card dealers in Las Vegas casinos receive frequent
breaks because managers recognize the stress they face. They serve people who may become
very emotional (high or low) and need to keep a sharp edge so that they don’t become
emotionally drained, thus affecting their work accuracy. Representatives who handle complaints
and knotty problems may get great satisfaction out of helping people, but they do so at a fairly
high emotional price. Take a break after particularly challenging encounters. Allow yourself to
cool off—to
detach from the episode—and to think back on what happened with an eye to learning from it.
Don’t beat yourself up for what happened—that serves no useful purpose. But do learn from it.

HANDLE A NASTY COMPLAINT LETTER OR EMAIL

Respect the time and effort
the complaining customer
exerted
Today’s customers don’t write letters very often, but when they do it reflects a significant effort.
Perhaps because they are fairly rare, a letter carries considerable impact. Letters provide a
graphic and tangible reminder of a customer’s dissatisfaction. It makes sense to respond to
them and to document what you’ve done.
Email complaints are becoming increasingly common. Email has become the medium of
choice for many customers. It is quick and easy, although it still requires writing—an activity that
is not all that easy for many people. So, we need to respect the effort expended and respond.
This notwithstanding, many written messages go unanswered! You have probably had that
experience yourself. Letters seem to evaporate and emails to companies have a tendency to fall
into
a cyber world black hole. And when they do, the unhappy customer gets much more
aggravated.
So, rule number one for letters and email complaints is this: answer them!
If you choose to respond to a letter or email with a phone call (this may positively surprise
your customer), be certain to have the original message in front of you and to refer to the
specific
points as written. If you answer a letter/email with a letter/email of your own, be certain that your
message conveys an attitude of problem solving, projects goodwill, and exhibits
professionalism.
Be an effective writer by applying the same human relations skills you would use in a face-
to-face encounter. Specifically, be especially sensitive to people’s feelings, interests, wants, and
needs. Failure to do so creates unnecessary strains on a relationship. The fact that a letter or
Email is a hard copy of a conversation makes it especially important that it be tactful. A poorly
written document will come back to haunt you.

USE HUMAN RELATIONS SKILLS TO CONVEY APPROPRIATE TONE

Let’s consider a few principles of human relations with an eye toward how these might apply in
phrasing messages to unhappy customers. Below are six action tips for applying fundamental
human relations principles to bolster customer relationships. The first and perhaps most basic
principle concerns the other person’s self-interest.

Action Tip 4—Remember that People Are Strongly Interested in Themselves

It is the nature of the human being—and all other known creatures, for that matter—to be
concerned with and motivated by their own personal needs, wants, and interests. This self-
centeredness, or egocentricity, is normal and not particularly harmful unless carried to the
extreme, where it overwhelms any caring about others. People are often socially conditioned
to not say it out loud, but there is constant background music in everyone’s mind that says
“what’s in it for me?” Always think carefully about the other person’s view of “WIIFM” when
expressing ideas or encouraging action. This other-centeredness is fundamental to persuasion
and human relationships.
When people speak or write, they reflect this egocentricity in their language. Every fifth
word written or spoken by a human being is I or one of its derivations—me, mine, my, we, ours,
us.
The point here is that service providers can turn this egocentricity into an advantage if they
recognize the customer’s needs. Effective communicators learn to express concern and
apprecia-
tion for the views of others in all their messages.

action tip 5—Use receiver-Centered messages

One important way to reflect consideration for another person is by phrasing your message in
terms of that person’s viewpoint. Expressing the appropriate viewpoint involves much more
than just selecting certain keywords. A genuine receiver viewpoint causes the tone of a letter or
email to reflect a sincere interest in the other person. Self-centered writers and talkers think of
themselves first. Receiver-oriented writers think of and convey their messages in terms of what
the message receiver wants or needs.
One “red flag” that you should look for are the words I, me, my, or the plural we, us, our
found in abundance in your messages. Second or third person (you, or the impersonal, one)
often
conveys more receiver interest and objectivity.
Please don’t conclude that you should try to eliminate the use of I and its variations. To do
so may be impossible in some cases. In other cases, your efforts may result in rather tortured
syntax and excessive wordiness. Besides, the use of I, we, or me does not always indicate a
self-centered viewpoint. For example, the person who says “I hope you will be happy with this
product” is not really violating a receiver viewpoint even though the sentence begins with the
word I. The overall tone and sense of caring for the other person is far more important than
simply avoiding the use of first-person pronouns.

action tip 6—talk with people as individuals, not Groups

We can improve the tone of communication by phrasing our information as though talking to
individuals, rather than groups. A personally addressed business letter, for example, singles out
a reader for individual attention. Such a letter conveys a more sincere regard for the specific
person than one addressed to “Dear Customer” or “Dear Fellow Employee.”

Strive to express ideas in terms of the individual’s benefit. One way to do this is through
direct address or “this means you!” statements. Each day we see examples of this approach in
television and radio commercials. The announcer “personally” addresses each of the several
mil-
lion people who may be listening and attempts to make each one feel that he or she is spoken
to
as an individual. Direct address shows your receivers how your message applies to them and
how
it can meet their individual needs in some way.

action tip 7—Give people positive information

Positive language often conveys more information than negative language. It also tends to be
more upbeat with a more pleasant tone. Rather than telling a person what is not or what you
cannot do, focus on the positive—what is or what you can do. If you say, “I cannot give cash
refunds on sale merchandise,” it conveys only negative information. It does not say what you
can do; it only rules out one of the possibilities. On the other hand, the positive statement “I can
arrange to have the product exchanged for another model that may better serve your needs”
conveys more specific and positive information.
Positive language also has a more pleasant ring to the ear. Yet many common negative
phrases still creep up in customer service such as:
We regret to inform you that we cannot . . .
We have received your claim . . . (claim has a negative connotation for most people)
Your failure to maintain the servicing schedule . . .
We regret that we cannot permit . . .
To illustrate the difference in tone between positive and negative word choices, here is an
example: A corporate executive wrote to a local civic group that asked if they could use the
com-
pany’s meeting facilities. To soften the refusal, however, the executive decided to let the group
use a conference room, which might be somewhat small for its purpose, but was probably bet-
ter than no room at all. Unfortunately, the executive was not sensitive to the effects of negative
wording. She wrote thus:
We regret to inform you that we cannot permit you to use our company training
room for your meeting, because the Beardstown Ladies’ Investment Club asked for
it first. This group has a standing date to use our place the third Thursday of every
month. We can, however, let you use our conference room; but it seats only 25.
A review of the message clearly brings out the negative words (regret, cannot, seats
only 25) first, while the otherwise positive message (you can use the conference room) is
drowned out.
A more positive way of addressing the same situation would be this tactful response:
Although the Beardstown Ladies’ Investment Club has already reserved our
company training room for Thursday, we would like to suggest that you use our
conference room, which seats 25.
No negative words appear in this version. Both approaches convey the primary message
of denying the request and offering an alternative, but the positive wording does a better job of
building and holding goodwill for the company.