Customers react on an emotional level. This reality makes it more challenging to meet, or exceed your customer's expectations. It would be nice if customers responded in a logical manner, but that's not the way it is. It's common sense. When you feel good you think well. When you think well, you act well. As a result good things happen. In order to succeed as a customer service provider you want to be an expert in understanding, and managing the four emotions of customer service.
It's all about feelings. We've been conned for years about the power of positive thinking when in reality it starts with feeling. We feel mad, we feel sad, we feel glad and sometimes we feel scared. Have you ever had someone tell you that they think sad? Have you ever had a lonely person tell you they think lonely? Almost everything we do, almost every action we take, is in the desire of feeling better, as a result.
Customer service excellence demands your expertise to identify and manage feelings. You know by now that I like to keep it simple and at this point, there is little need to explain. People will often place different labels on the four emotions mad, sad, glad and scared. Some will say well how about anger; that's mad. Others say how about the feeling of being tricked or manipulated; that's scared. You could describe the glad emotion as happy, thrilled or exhilarated. You could also describe sad as disappointed, feeling let down or any other adjectives you may choose. Nevertheless it all comes back to the four emotions.
In this article I'll focus on the silent killer, the mad emotion. In one of the Godfather movies the Don sends his trusted lawyer, to visit a movie executive. He wants him to convince a movie producer to give his nephew a starring role in a film, to launch his career. The lawyer tries his best to convince the producer to hire the Don's nephew, but to no avail. The producer in a gesture of friendship asked the lawyer if he wanted to stay over night, as it was late in the evening. The lawyer declined the offer and told the producer that the Don insisted on getting bad news as soon as possible. When it comes to customer service excellence I'll do the same.
The mad emotion is the silent killer of your business. It is also that hardest one to prevent and manage. Sometimes you know customers are mad, because they complain. I call that lucky. Sometimes they are mad and tell everyone else. I call that the silent killer of your business. Often the anger that they feel has absolutely nothing to do with you, yet it still has an impact on your business. Understanding this emotion will have a dramatic impact on customer service, and ultimately sales in your organization.
You wake up to discover you have a flat tire. Do you feel glad? I don't think so. Do you feel scared? Not in most cases. Chances are you are mad due to the inconvenience. Perhaps you are sad that you must part with your money. With these feelings you decide to call a few stores, usually three to compare availability, and if you're price sensitive, how much it will cost.
The person who answers the phone had nothing to do with the customer's feelings. These feelings existed, before the in coming call. In a state of anger the customer phones the store ring, ring, ring, and after three rings what happens to the mad emotion? It increases in intensity with each ring. The phone continues to ring, ring, ring, and ring. The phone is finally answered, but incorrectly, something we'll get into later. The person answering the phone is not smiling and answers the call, as if it were a disruption. In addition since the server is not smiling this has a negative impact on their tone of voice. The customer is then put on hold without being asked for permission to do so. The anger the customer feels is inflated more. Does this increase or decrease the server's chance of making the sale? The answer is obvious. One or two lost sales a day can have a dramatic impact on your bottom line at the end of the month, especially in a tight economy.
The customer calls another store. The phone is answered promptly and properly. There's a smile on the other end of the line and as a result, a more pleasant tone of voice. I've been kidding with you about being my therapist, but therapists listen. When you feel mad what do you want to do? You want to tell someone else. You want to ventilate. The customer service provider in this case is an expert at feeling emotions and asks the customer a simple question. What happened? The customer has a chance to explain the dilemma and inconvenience. As a result the caller ventilates and to a degree bonds with the server. Who do you think has a better chance to book the job?
Understanding the mad emotion is central to customer service excellence. Not understanding the mad emotion is your worst nightmare in business. That's why like the Don in the godfather movie, I want to start with the mad emotion. You need to hear the bad news first. Good news may travel slowly but bad news travels at the speed of light. Newspapers are basically bad news organized. I've heard people suggest that someone should try and write a 'good news' newspaper. They did try and you know what happened? No one wanted to buy them.
When your customers throw the 'mad' rock into the 'mad' pond the ripples are greater than any other emotion. When you crystallize your customer service strategy you'll discover that prevention is better than cure. I'll show you how to do it. You'll also need to make it easy for customers to complain to you. This is much better than them complaining to your competitors. In addition you'll want to ensure that service people can take the mad emotion and turn it into an opportunity. In part 3 of this article we'll get into the other emotions as well. I'll see you then.
