What Do Customers Want, Anyway?
Have you ever had customers who want the universe, gift-wrapped and delivered yesterday? Was that a resounding YES I heard?
Fortunately, most customers don't demand the impossible. In fact, what they want is exceedingly reasonable. And what's that? Well, switch for a moment from your service provider hat to your customer hat. When you're a customer, what matters to you? What matters when you're at the car dealer, the doctor's office, or the airport? What matters to you when you're on the phone ordering flowers, or awaiting technical support, or ordering a million-calorie pizza and a zero-calorie beverage?
Over the years, I've asked many hundreds of participants in my customer service seminars what matters to them when they're the customer. Their responses are overwhelmingly similar, demonstrating that most of us want the same things when we are customers: We want to be treated with respect. We want to be listened to. We don't want to be bounced around or ignored or treated like dummies.
Product and process
Now, switch back to your service provider hat and think about it: Both the product and the process are important to customers. The product refers to the solution, system, response, resolution, deliverable or result. Whatever form the product takes, customers want it to work properly, to meet their needs, and to have that elusive quality of, well, quality. This is the technical element of service, and you're not likely to have happy customers without it.
But excelling in the technical element alone may not keep customers coming back unless you also attend to the process. In fact, for many customers, the process is more important than the product. The process concerns how customers feel they've been treated. This is the human element of service. And touchy-feely though it may appear, the human element is exceedingly important in achieving a high level of customer satisfaction.
The following list presents the some of the responses I've received from participants in my seminars. Notice that the majority of the items pertain to the human element.
When I'm a Customer, I Want . . .
1. To be taken seriously 10. Knowledgeable help
2. Competent, efficient service 11. Friendliness
3. Anticipation of my needs 12. To be kept informed
4. Explanations in my terms 13. Follow-through
5. Basic courtesies 14. Honesty
6. To be informed of the options 15. Feedback
7. Not to be passed around 16. Professional service
8. To be listened to (and heard) 17. Empathy
9. Dedicated attention 18. Respect
Sloppy service with a smile
Does that mean that it's OK to give customers incorrect information as long as you're empathetic, friendly, and respectful in doing so? Obviously not. But providing correct information may not be nearly as effective as correct information accompanied by empathy, friendliness, and respect. Focusing on the process is a way to invest in a relationship. In the customer interviews I conduct in my consulting work, I continually find that customers who appreciate the way they've been treated uncomplainingly accept occasional delays and glitches. In other words, an emphasis on the human element can give you some leeway in delivering the technical element.
It may be that customers who demand the universe gift-wrapped and delivered yesterday just need a strong dose of respect, attentiveness, and courtesy. Before you start searching for universe-size wrapping paper, give it a try.
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When?
People always seem to want to know "when." When will my new furniture be delivered? When will my printer be fixed? When will my call for software support be answered? If you provide customer support, service standards provide a formal way to communicate this information.
Service standards are expectations-managing statements used to minimize uncertainty about when some specified event will occur. The "when" may be a specific date or time, or more often, a time frame within which the event will take place. Consider these sample service standards:
During delays, outages and malfunctioning whose duration is unknown, we will give customers a status update on a specified schedule. We will inform customers about this schedule, and we will adhere to it even if there is no change in status.
Unlike service standards for routine service, it may be wise to keep this kind of standard in reserve till it's needed, so as not to worry customers about events that may never happen. Still, it pays to be ready. That's one of the nice things about service standards: the situation they're intended to address may be plagued by uncertainty, but there's no uncertainty about what to tell customers.
Better late than ... ?