A teenager close to you is new to Customer Service. Could be your son, daughter, niece, nephew, or a neighbor, whose part of the family. They’ve never read a customer service book but they’re friendly and outgoing, with a good appearance. So you’re sure they’ll do fine. Customers will love them, just like you do.
But in reality, a wide cross-section of people they’re about to deal with, will be new and jarring to them. A nice smile only goes so far with people expecting to be serviced without delay or objection.
Sure, most customers will be reasonably friendly, even patient to an extent. But many of them will be hard to hear, speak too fast to be understood, not speak loudly enough or be preoccupied with their own concerns. And these are the good customers. Add to them, the people in a hurry, the ones with no patience at all, those who condescend, the ones who like to bully, plus the ‘Karens”…and it will become apparent that handling these disparate personality types does not come naturally. Far from it.
Maybe a few basic and useful customer service skills, some customer service training, or a clear, straightforward, customer service book wouldn’t be a bad idea?
That fast-food worker or floor clerk in a department store who looks like they could care less when you approach them. That impatient receptionist in a doctor’s office who makes you feel as if you’re interrupting “them” . The banking rep who hangs up on you, because (maybe) you weren’t speaking loudly enough. None of these could ever be you’re little Johnny or Maria, right?
You’ll say, “Of course not”. But what if Johnny or Maria have no idea what effective customer service really is. Might they seem disinterested or uncaring too? Maybe the customer service reps mentioned above didn’t realize how rude or ineffective they were being? Maybe, if they had read a customer service book on how to actually do their job, the best ways to help people would be more apparent to them. And they’d be doing it.
Any area in a specific field of business comes with it’s own customer product or service-related demands. Restaurants, retail, healthcare, banking, building construction, computer software, etc… all have specific customer needs that are required to be understood and applied by customer service staff.
The customer service training details for each of these jobs are quite different. But underlying the specific product or service-related actions one learns, there are common sense ways of helping people that apply to any business, any job in dealing with the public. Accordingly, for customers to feel serviced and comfortable these need to be present.
Over the years, the basic truths and concepts that underlie effective, helpful customer service have become clear to me. And The Little Customer Book outlines them. Good customer service reps already use many of them. Fortunately, these basics can be learned and, with commitment and effort, applied so they become second nature.
Can you think of a more perfect and useful gift, to a teenager in customer service?
The Little Customer Service Book
A Common Sense Guide to Helping People
Recommended Links:
https://thelittlecustomerservicebook.com/2023/06/17/warmth-in-customer-service/
