Become a Customer Service
Superstar! Phil Gerbyshak
Chief Connections Officer Make It Great! Institute
Why are we here?
You
already know this stuff
The question is NOT “Do I already know this stuff (you do),
the questions are…
How good am I at this? And…
Could I use a refresher?
Can I take it to the next level?
Agenda
• Greetings • Expectation Setting • Great emails
• Break for lunch
• Listening Skills • Service Recovery
What is customer service?
Who are you and what do YOU believe about customer service?
Getting to know each other
Customers pay your salary!
Let’s begin with a few greetings!
Nod Hello
Don’t smile and don’t say a word – Just nod as you walk past each person in the room
30 second greeting
Smile and handshake (No words)
Now Get Personal!
Learn a little more – Ask the other person their favorite
pizza topping
Which was most effective?
How can you use this on the phone?
What are 3 parts of a powerful greeting?
How can you use these on the phones?
3 parts to Superstar Greeting
• Greeting • Your name • Energy
Superstars Know • First Contact builds customer confidence • How to tune the world the world out and tune the
customer in • To put a smile in their voice • To find out something more about your customers
Now You Try It
Write down your good greeting
Expectation Setting
• Setting expectations with your customers is the most important thing you can do. – How do you set reasonable expectations?
Ask customers what they expect
Do you know the magic
question?
“What can I do that would make you happy?”
Customers Want 5 things
• Reliability • Responsiveness • Assurance • Empathy • Follow-up
Do what you say, say what you do
• Keep your promises • It doesn't have to always be you
– It can be someone else • You set the expectation
Skill Builder: Now You Try It
• One-on-one – Expectation setting
• Get unreasonable expectation from partner • Reset expectation to something more reasonable
Phone Etiquette – Language matters
Putting People On Hold
How can we do this without making people mad?
Holding and Waiting
• People don't like to be put on hold or to be made to wait – ASK them for permission, and keep it short
• "May I place you on hold for 30-60 seconds? I'll come back to you if it's going to be longer?"
Never transfer someone again!
Think Connection, NOT Transfer
• Folks hate to be transferred to another person. Transferring indicates they were in the wrong place, that they're going to be put on hold again, or worse, dumped onto someone else who can't help them.
• Change your language – Instead of transfer, use connect
Why connect? • Connect indicates you will PLUG THEM IN to
someone or something that can help them.
Gives customer the choice
Always ASK if you may connect them, explain why, and offer an alternative
Words you use are very important
• Avoid “hot button” words – What is a hot button word?
• Focus on the “can can” – What’s a can can?
• Say “I’ll find out” not “I don’t know” – Why is this important?
Tone = Touch
• A gentle tone means a higher touch experience for your customers – Think FEELINGS, not FACTS
Tone = Touch
• A gentle tone means a higher touch experience for your customers – Think FEELINGS, not FACTS
Lunch time!
Great Emails Matter
Basics
• TO • CC • BCC • Subject • Body
GREAT Emails
• Greeting • Respond to need or request • Explain solution or delay • Ask for understanding and how to contact
if questions • Thank the customer
Create an email response to this situation:
– Sally (your customer) called earlier today needing help sharing calendars with John (a co-worker) but didn’t have time to work on it
– The instructions are on your internal website at http://intranet/sharedcalendar
• Greeting • Respond to need or request • Explain solution or delay • Ask for understanding and how to contact if
questions • Thank the customer
Review With Your Partner
Listening Skills Matter
T – Tune In
– Superstars tune in to the speaker and the subject, mentally (and possibly physically) calling up everything known about the subject and shutting out all distractions.
Q - Question
• Superstars mentally formulate questions that will help resolve the issue. • What will this speaker say about this topic? • What is the speaker's background? • Have they called about this issue before?
L - Listen
• Superstars organize the information as it is received, anticipating what the speaker will say next and reacting mentally to everything heard.
R - Review
• Superstars go over what has been said, summarize, evaluate constantly and reformulating what they understand.
R – Repeat Back
• Superstars explain what was said to ensure it is correct according to the speaker and if not, to clarify what is missing.
TQLRR • T -- Tune in
• Q -- Question
• L -- Listen
• R -- Review
• R -- Repeat back
Your Turn: Here’s the situation
• 1 person is panicked because they think they just lost a 50 page Word document they have been working on for the last 5 hours
• Use TQLRR method
6 Steps to Superstar Service Recovery
6 Steps to Superstar Service Recovery
1) Listen to the customer vent 2) Apologize that a mistake happened, even if it isn't yours 3) Quickly find a temporary workaround (if possible) 4) Make a promise to get the problem resolved and set an expectation of when 5) Keep the promise 6) Follow-up to ensure continued satisfaction
Your Turn: Here’s the situation
• 1 person was promised a new smart phone by Monday (it is now Wednesday). She/he is going out of town today at 5 PM
• You have the same smart phone the person needs at your desk for another customer who needs it Monday
One Last Thing…
The difference between a superstar and everyone else is…
Going the extra mile
Your Turn
One thing you will implement from today
