Communication versus connection

Communication versus connection

Customer Service is a fast evolving field and customer service employees could get stale at a single turn of events. No thanks to the ever changing taste and attitude of us humans, customer service employees need a lot of catching up at all times. That notwithstanding, customer service is an interesting field that entails connection to our humanness in far reaching ways that words won’t be sufficient to capture.

Important as good communication is to a successful customer service, it is no longer sufficient. Customers want a customer service representative that can communicate in simple, understandable terms, as well as understand all they request. They want someone who can meet their demands and possibly even surpass them to give the customers satisfaction. Customer demands could be a daunting task to customer service employees who merely communicate but don’t connect with customers.

Ever heard this before? ‘Immediately we met, we connected. It seemed we had known each other for so long’ It does happen. Such immediate synergy is a very useful tool for a seamless customer service and a wow service experience. Connection helps communication and the bedrock of effective customer service is communication. How then do we connect?

The service style a customer service staff employs in a given situation should be derived from the kind of customer that is being dealt with. Right from when the customer steps into your service area, a good customer service staff should begin the analysis of the customer’s personality. Your responses and gestures as a customer service staff should be in a ‘tango’ with cues from your customer. Let the customer take the ‘solo’ and you, the ‘chorus’. Let the human side of you reflect when attending to your customer. Don’t just act like an automated machine. Make the customer see your willingness and gladness to help.

If connection will make communication easy, why tow the hard way? Many customer service staff retire from work each day feeling exhausted because they spent the day being machines in human clothing. A virtual Assistant shouldn’t perform better than you. Connect, don’t just communicate!

Comments

Why Recommendations Might Not Help Your Decision to Buy (The Nigerian Context)

We seek protection for our money, time and effort when we seek recommendations to inform our decision to procure goods and services. Our usual sources of recommendations are : family members, friends or sometimes friends of friends whom we feel share our interests and would recommend only the best or those they have tried or tested. We rely on the safety nest we build for ourselves in their recommendation(s). This might sometimes not work because our preferences might not be replicas of theirs or their judgment of our preferences might actually be wrong. Subjectivity comes to play most times and I dare say how many people are 100 percent objective when buying? We are often times buying from someone because the seller is our friend, the seller is courteous, the seller also bought from us and we are returning the patronage, the seller will get offended if we are seen buying from someone else, the seller needs help, and buying from them might be a boost, the seller was recommended ...

....Not your Customers' Business

Many businesses unknowingly communicate their ineffectiveness and point their customers to their competitors when they discuss issues that are not the customers' business with the customers. Businesses deal with a lot of issues in their business environment and their ability to manage these issues either put them ahead of their competitors (competitive advantage) or point their customers to the competitors. It is ridiculous to hear business owners shift the blame of service errors to their employees in the presence of customers; most times with the aim of saving their faces and making their employees look ineffective, they fail to realize that they are only exposing their lack of good business management practices. While small and medium scale businesses are viable sources of growth for a nation's economy, sole proprietors must know when to employ capable hands to carry out key business roles as the business grows. Most sole proprietors assume roles they know they ar...

SPEAK YOUR CUSTOMER'S LANGUAGE

Many businesses get caught up in the technicalities and frenzy of the industries they belong to till they forget how to communicate with their customers. Customer communication doesn't just happen . It's the p roduct of a conscious effort of observation and study. Before we go too far? When was the last time you spent a day engaging your customers to connect with them? Or if it's a large company, how conscious are your customer service employees in studying the customers. Many businesses lose relevance too soon because they let go of the little things that mean so much . Ever tried speaking like a child to connect with a customer's child at your store, ever gotten the attention of a fly teenager by speaking using the latest slang. Business is not for the rigid. Get out of the 'you -zone' because it's not about you but your customers. Stimulated? Let Customercentrix help you out! Call now: +27 847084715

Customercentrix

Search This Blog