In an age when customers regularly take to the Internet to publicize their great and not-so-great experiences—and those experiences can go viral in mere minutes—it’s impossible to over stress the importance of superior customer service. It’s why so many companies budget hundreds of thousands of dollars for customer service initiatives and put new and old employees through often rigorous, regular training. So why most often are the results only average?
Even for companies where criminal levels of poor customer service have not been reached, reports of exceptional service can be just as scarce. The problem? Most companies are trying to train their employees in customer service when they should be educating them.
Don’t Train, Educate
Training teaches someone what actions to take in a specific situation. Education teaches him or her how to think about service in any situation and then choose the best actions to take. This difference between training and educating results in two distinctly different types of service. “Trained” employees will provide basic service. They’ll do just enough to get the customer out of their hair, but they won’t make those customers feel very good about the company in the process. In fact, sometimes customers will end up feeling bad about the company—even if they are not exactly sure why. In fact, most of us have had this experience. The customer service representative doesn’t do anything overtly rude or offensive. You probably don’t complain because you can’t put your finger on anything s/he did or said that was wrong—but all the same you walk away with the unsettled feeling that s/he doesn’t want to be there, doesn’t care about you, and may even secretly resent serving you.
Educated service providers understand that sticking to the script and providing a service isn’t enough. Great service is not just about following a procedure or a sequence of steps. It’s about applying a good attitude and heart to proven service principles. It’s about taking the right actions at the right time to provide uplifting service so customers and colleagues feel great about the organization. Service education allows reps to make that important distinction.
Case & Point
Let’s take a look at two possible customer service scenarios:
Scenario 1: A customer calls your company regarding a problem he’s having with your product. He’s placed on hold and passed from representative to representative until he reaches the appropriate department. When he’s finally able to tell a customer service representative about the problem, the representative follows her training to the letter. She reads from the customer problem script just as she was taught in training. She successfully solves the customer’s problem but doesn’t do much to develop a real relationship with the customer.
When that customer raises a question about another of the company’s products, the representative says she can’t help him with that but that she’s happy to direct him to someone else who can. Facing what he assumes will be several more minutes on hold, he says, “No, thank you” and hangs up.
Scenario 2: A customer calls your company with a problem and is greeted by the first person he talks to like this: “Don’t worry. I understand your problem, and I’m going to help you.” The representative not only leads the customer through fixing the problem, but she also takes the time to find out more about how the customer uses the product. With that information, the representative can also give the customer a helpful tip on how to use the product more efficiently, and reassures the customer that any of her colleagues will also be glad to help if any other questions or problems pop up in the future. The rep asks the customer if he is interested in learning about any of the company’s other products and services, and the customer says yes, already enjoying a feeling of relationship and trust with the representative’s organization.
See how the educated employee added value at every level of the call? When employees are trained, there can be a fragmented understanding of what service means for different customers and at different times. Process training often leaves employees uncertain of what to do in situations they have not been trained to handle. Real service education means customer service reps learn to think and act differently according to the situation so that their actions always create value for their customers. Service education is more than teaching employees to deliver predictable service or handle customer complaints. It’s a foundation for creating a culture of uplifting service throughout the organization.
Service Education 101
Infusing service education into your company’s culture is a vital process, requiring dedication from the top down and action from the bottom up. It’s a topic I devote an entire section to in Uplifting Service, but the following are a few important points to consider as you learn more about service education.
Select service education leaders carefully. These individuals should be carefully selected for their understanding, attitude, and orientation to new action. This role calls for patience, clarity of thinking, commitment to uplifting service, and boundless generosity in the encouragement of others. This unique role is course leader, educator, facilitator, coach, encourager, problem solver, consultant, and provocateur all in one.
Focus on long-term results. Short-term thinking is another common reason why so many customer service training programs don’t produce substantial or sustainable results. Your goal should be more than short-term improvements in a few problem service areas. You want to build an organization with an internal capability to solve problems today and create great successes in the future.
Engage everyone. Remember, uplifting service means creating a culture shift at your organization, and that means everyone has to be on board. Service education will not take root unless everyone at your company is dedicated to the change. And everyone means everyone. Your board of directors, C-level executives, managers, supervisors, warehouse/custodial staffs, new hires— everyone must be involved and dedicated to this ongoing learning adventure. The ultimate goal is to create a culture that earns and retains many loyal customers while building pride and problemsolving passion in every service provider. When team members are confident that everyone is committed to this cause, they will work enthusiastically to deliver uplifting service.
Don’t expect instant change. Becoming skillful in service does not happen all at once, just as mastering math or learning a new language cannot be accomplished in a single session. Service education must be frequent, repeated, reviewed, and renewed for everyone on a continuous and uplifting basis.
New learning happens when new principles are put into action, new insights are discovered, new skills are developed, and new understanding and competencies are secured. Just reading a book won’t uplift your service performance or build your service culture. It takes new action to uplift your service and delight the people around you.
Finally, be sure to incorporate all aspects of your service culture into your service education. Real-time data, current customer comments, compliments, complaints, and competitive information can all play vital roles. Keep fresh information flowing into your service education process and keep new ideas for action flowing out. Energy for improvement should be constantly moving and growing in all directions.
