Customer Service Tune-Up

Customer service is so fundamentally important to any business — our clients’ businesses and our own — we took the entire Riger staff en masse to a day-long seminar on the topic. The Skillpath Seminars Conference, “Delivering Great Customer Service,” provided lots of food for thought for everyone.

From our seminar notebook:

1. Customer Behavior from a session entitled “It’s a Jungle Out There!”:

When dealing with those extremely difficult customers in any kind of business, it may help employees to categorize them as certain types of “animals” so as to better understand and respond to them. The seminar explored several different “animals,” discussing their characteristics and more importantly, how to manage conversations with them.

The “tiger”: Sometimes sneaky, quick-tempered, independently “attacks.” The solution to dealing with this kind of difficult customer would be to listen to the complaint or problem fully without interrupting him/her, all the while anticipating the next move. It also helps to keep in mind that you must “stick to your guns” in order to establish credibility and gain respect from this customer.

The “bear”: Slower and more quiet. Defensive and protective at times. Only “attacking” when provoked. Some may say bears are worse than the tigers, since you are required first to cautiously establish what the problem is (without, of course, setting them off), then respond with patience for what may be a drawn-out explanation, and finally deliver your end of the conversation in an upfront, yet non-threatening fashion.

There are other customer/animal types: rats, lions, and how about snakes? Consult www.skillpath.com for the complete story.

The usefulness of the animal analogy is the constant reminder: continuously evaluate how best to serve our customers, according to their specific personality types. In turn, knowing and mastering how to deal with those different types is one key to achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction.

(Continue to Part 2...)

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