After reading another article on JU I got to thinking about my extensive experience in Customer Service. I have always worked in a service related field of one type or another. My very first job was as a bag boy in a very busy grocery store that catered to an upscale clientele. I have also worked in the television repair business as an in-home repairman, computer repair, satellite television installation and service, and cable television/telecommunications. I was i the cable/telecommunications industry the longest. It was my career. I started out as an installer/technician and worked my up through service technician, line tech, headend/tower tech, chief tech, regional technical trainer, and Plant Manager. My new job, starting Monday, is customer service rep.
The one constant in these fields and jobs was customer service. There was always a customer involved as these were always service related insustries. The customer paid the bills and had to be the only priority. My abilities to deal with customers, especially the difficult, demanding, and unreasonable ones allowed me to progress inmy career at a very good pace.
I learned long ago that when a customer is upset there is usually a reason for it. Note I said USUALLY. Often it takes a bit of communications skill to get past the customer's anger and find out exactly what they are really upset about. They have some need, real or perceived, that they feel hasn't been met. I always saw it as my job to find out exaclty what that need was, and how to meet it.
Sometimes it was something as simple as they didn't feel the company responded quickly enough to their request. Sometimes it was they felt they weren't getting what they were paying for. Sometimes they were just having a bad day. Whatever the reason, I never took it personally because I knew they weren't really mad at me personally. They were just upset about something and I was handy.
It didn't take long before my higher ups took notice of my customer service skills and began dispacthing me to deal with the upset and/or difficult customers. And there were many of those who would ask for me.
What did I do differently? I listened to them. I didn't react to their emotions. I listened, I asked questions, and I expressed a desire to solve their probem for them. That's really all they want.
I recall one elderly lady who had poor reception on her set. It wasn't anything to do with the cable, it was her tv. Another tech had been there and informed her of this and left. Well, she called in raising all sorts of cain about it and I was sent out. I ran the standard tests and verified that it was indeed her television.
I spent some time with her, explained that it wasn't the cable, and carried in a test television and showed her that the cable was good. I also asked her who normally did her television repairs, called him for her and arranged to be there when he came out. On my return visit, he showed up, repaired her television and explained to her that there wasn't anything wrong with the cable.
She was very happpy to have a good picture again, and thanked me for going to all the trouble of getting things right for her. It really wasn't my job to call the tv guy or meet him there or any of that. I did it because I had an unhappy customer and I wanted to be sure she was taken care of. After that, any time this lady had a problem with her television service she would call and ask for me to come out. She would flatly refuse to let anyone else come to her home.
Now, I reallly didn't do anything special. I didn't tell her anything different than the first tech. I only followed through to be sure that her problem was resolved to her satisfaction. Wasn't my job, but I did it anyway in the interest of customer service.
I have many such stories and incidents, but I think it illustrates my point well enough. Sometimes difficult people just need that little extra effort. Sometimes there will be nothing you can do to make them happy. In that case, if you went to the extra effort and homestly did everything you could, you can be satisfied that you did your job to the best of your ability.
Over twenty years in the customer service industry has taught me that listening and a willingness to gladly go that extra step will almost always result in a satisfied customer.