Wells - Common Sense Customer Service: Improve Your Job Skills & Provide A Great Customer Experience

Chapter 1

Basic Customer Service Concepts

In Chapter 1 well learn some basic customer service concepts. And, like the title of this book suggests, its pretty much common sense.

How the Do Unto Others principle applies to customer service.

Is the customer always right?

Do Unto Others

Weve all heard about the Golden Rule and, it seems, it is a concept that has been embraced by many cultures throughout history. Wikipedia has a good account of this pervasive ideology. Just go to Wikipedia.com and search for Golden Rule. Apparently there are references to this philosophy all the way back to ancient Babylon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rule

The underlying principle of basic, common sense customer service is expressed well by the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I know that seems rather simplified, but think about it for a minute. When youre expecting exceptional customer service for a product or service that youve purchased, or are considering purchasing, dont you expect the customer service person to deal with you fairly and with respect? Isnt that how you feel you should treat your customers?

If you dont feel that the majority of your customers deserve fairness and respect, you may be in the wrong field.

Youll find that this conviction is a recurring theme throughout this book.

The Customer is Always Right - NOT!

Who coined the phrase The customer is always right.? Take a look at the website phrases.org.uk and search on the phrase The customer is always right. Youll find some interesting history on this oft-used term.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/106700.html

The customer is always right is a phrase that we have all heard over and over again . Well, its time to clear up this oft-quoted misconception.

Many customers, as you probably already know, can be unreasonable and demanding. They expect to get whatever they want because they believe they are entitled, simply because they are the customer.

Im sorry, but the customer is NOT always right. Ill give you a big hint, too. They often KNOW they arent right, but will try it on for size anyway.

The Customer is Always the Customer

However, having said that, what I do believe, is that the customer is always the customer and should be treated with respect. After all, if you dont have any customers, you dont have a business. So, whether youre an owner, a manager or an employee, without customers there is no income and with no income there are no jobs. Thats something to seriously think about.

Now, there are times, and these times are rare, that certain customers dont even deserve your respect. You know the ones I mean. They are downright abusive. Well explore how to deal with such customers later in this book. (See Chapter 5 - Dealing with Different Types of Customers)

However, for now, remember that your customer is your income. You want them to be happy, but it needs to be a win-win situation - something that both you and your customer can accept and live with.

Well learn more about win-win situations later in this book.

In Chapter 1 we have learned a couple of key customer service concepts:

If you treat a customer the way you, yourself would like to be treated then you are most certainly on the right track to excellent customer service.

Although a customer is NOT always right, they are always your customer and they deserve to be treated with respect (with only a few exceptions).

Chapter 2

Attitude and personality

In Chapter 2 well learn about the type of personalities that seem to be attracted to the customer service field. You may have noticed that, in general, youll come across the same personality types. This isnt a coincidence. A career in customer service seems to attract, and keep, people with similar:

Personalities

Attitudes

Personality

According to Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality

Personality is the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral response patterns of an individual.

Youve probably heard that it takes a certain type of person to work in customer service. And you know what? Its true.

Certain personalities simply do better in this kind of position than others. And, although it may sound sexist, frequently its women that excel in a customer service environment.

No, Im not saying that men dont do well in customer service. Of course they do. But you are more likely to find that women are drawn to this profession.

Truly, I am not trying to be sexist here. However, I am writing this book from my own point of view and experiences. And, Im a woman who has spent over 30 years in customer service - as a customer service rep, as an employer of customer service personnel and as a customer service consultant.

You may find that in the more technical fields, youll see more men, but that has been changing rapidly and you are now likely to find a more equitable mix in those fields as well.

In most cases, the type of attitude youll find in good customer service people is a can-do, lets make everyone happy kind of outlook.

A good customer service person isnt looking to triumph over a customer, they genuinely hope to create a win-win situation. They are actively looking to find solutions that are good for both their company and their customer. That way everyone is happy.

Yes, thats the ideal situation and it doesnt always happen. But thats what a customer service person should be striving to achieve.

It can be like trying to be a mediator at times. The company, who pays your salary, is of course of great concern to your future employment. The customer, who buys your companys products, is of great concern as well. If they stop buying your companys products, then the company may go out of business and there goes your job.

So, you need to bring balance, and you need to do it with a calm and positive attitude.

If you feel you always need to win, and someone else needs to lose, then you might want to look at other types of jobs because the odds are you wont excel at customer service.

Personal Anecdote

My experience as both an employee and a consultant has been mostly in the technical field with such diverse companies as a packaging machinery company, a flexible metal hose company, a company that supplies soot-blowers to pulp and paper mills, a company that manufactures automated gluing machines, a company that manufacturers powder paint coating equipment and a software development company.

One company, where I applied for a technical customer service position early in my career, was very candid with me about the selection process after I was hired. They were certain they were looking for a man for the position, someone with a technical and mechanical background.