Video Replay & Key Takeaways: Exceeding Customer Expectations

There are three levels of customer satisfaction:

1) Advocates (Fiercely Loyal – Promoters)

2) Apathetics (Satisfied – Loyal on Their Terms)

3) Assassins (Poison Your Brand – Destroyers)

Your goal in customer service is to create as many advocates as possible, which is most easily achieved by not just doing what a customer expects, but an unexpected over-and-above “small thing that makes a big difference.”

T.L.C. – Think Like Customers. There are many things that can be misperceived, but your customer’s perception of their experience becomes their reality, whether intentional or not. Look at every interaction through the lens of the customer to identify places where they may get an incorrect message. (Things like body language, speaking too quickly, distractions like high background noise on phone calls, can all send the wrong message.)

Be an advocate for your customers. Even in cases where you can’t fill their need immediately, you can always use their name when communicating, explain briefly why and how a situation will be resolved, set reasonable expectations (wait time, etc.), thank them in specific ways, ie: not just “for their business” or a “thank you” as they walk out the door, but for their patience (if there was a longer than expected wait), for their agreeableness (if a compromise was needed), for their understanding (if there was an error needing corrected.) 

Language matters. You can elevate the customer experience by using phrases like “my pleasure” vs “no problem,” by saying, “I’d appreciate it if…” vs “You’ll have to..,” “May I…” vs “I’m going to…” Important phrases not to use: 

• “I don’t know” (Instead use: “Good question – let me find out for you”)
• “We can’t do that” (Instead use: “That may be challenging; but let me see what I can do”)
• “You’ll have to” (Instead use: “What we would suggest is….”)
• “You should have…” (Avoid words that accuse – simply explain what should have been)
• “But…” (Instead use: “However”. The word “but” often negates everything that was just said)

(Courtesy of our recent training with BWI Learning)