by Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor
The other day, someone asked me, “What’s Customer Experience, Nancy?”
They had not heard the expression yet. And as I went on to explain, I realized it’s not just one item, it’s many things. How can you put the entire ‘experience’ into one word? Not sure we can.
And since ‘customer experience’ seems to be the new hot buzz word of the day, we wanted to share a few of the tips that will help make a better customer experience for you and your customer. Common sense that they are, they’re not often done.
1. “No problem” is not a substitute for the gold standard of “you’re welcome.” “My pleasure” or “glad to help” will save the day and make a better customer experience.
2. “Sorry ’bout that” is not a replacement for “I apologize.” When an error occurs, “sorry ’bout that” won’t work. “I apologize” always helps make a better customer experience.
3. “Hey, how ya doing?” is not a good greeting, on the phone or in person. “How nice to talk/or see you/or meet you” brings the customer experience to the forefront.
4. Want to spoil a good customer experience quickly? Chew gum, crack your knuckles, cough or sneeze without covering your mouth and not saying excuse me. All these will ruin a good customer experience.
5. Just being ‘nice’ isn’t going to create a great customer experience. You’re suppose to be nice! Say or do something extra special to make it great.
6. Being on your cell phone or texting while helping a customer will completely ruin a good customer experience.
7. “Please,” “thank you” and “you’re welcome” will never go out of style. Use them often for that great customer experience.
8. Listening skills is one of the, if not THE, most important customer experience skill you can have.
9. Ownership (not passing the buck) is one of the best personal skills you can have when it comes to making a great customer experience.
10. No excuses help make a great customer experience. Excuses only say, “I’m not going to help you now.”
11. We don’t let the customer leave the store or off the phone until they’re happy. We stick with it.
12. We stand up if we’re sitting down when the customer comes into the store or we’re at a tradeshow booth. We don’t just stay seated. That’s not a good customer experience.
13. While 13 is usually thought of as unlucky, this tip is the luckiest and I’m betting you already know what it is. YUP – smile! On the phone or in person, it can be heard. Your customers want to work with happy, upbeat people. That’s what makes a great customer experience.
So you ask, what is customer experience? As you see, it’s a whole lot of things. What it is NOT is brain surgery or rocket science.
There are hundreds of things that help make a great customer experience. We’ll bring you more in another article.
Nancy Friedman is president of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training and a professional speaker at association and corporate meetings. Visit www.nancyfriedman.com or call 314‑291‑1012 to get a demo of Nancy in action.