Customer Service Focus

The "customer first" mantra

Sales bring in customers; customer service helps retain them

By Cleva Moore, CIC, CRM, CPCU, AIS, AU, APA

In the insurance business, customers must come first. We are in a service industry. Some may believe the most important factors for success are sales and profits. They fail to realize that the success of a business is strongly tied to customer satisfaction and retention.

Establishing and maintaining a quality customer service program focused on your customers’ needs will set you apart from the competition and get you noticed. Your customer should believe he or she is being treated in a special way. You should always be helpful, polite and cheerful when you speak to your customers. Try a “How can I help you?” attitude in place of a “What do you want?” attitude.

The person on the front line is visible. Systems and organizational culture are largely invisible. When something goes wrong, it’s easy to trace the problem back to whoever touched it last and lay the blame there. However, the source of the defect should be traced back to its source. If you put a good person into a bad system, the system will win.

If you trace errors or service complaints back to the root cause, about 80% of the time the fault lies in the system or practices of the organization. Only about 20% of the time can it be traced back to someone who didn’t care or wasn’t conscientious enough. All too often we ask “who” rather than “what” went wrong.

Most of the time, good customer service is the result of a good system. Customer service involves measuring customer satisfaction, improving response times, and looking for complaint trends. A company can outperform its competitors if it establishes an advantage that is not only cost effective, but also maintainable. Customer service has the potential to be such a competitive advantage. Unlike your products or services, customer service solutions are difficult for your competitors to duplicate.

The consistent delivery of superior customer service requires careful planning and implementation of activities. Companies with strong customer service are sought out by their customers, are referred to new customers, and retain customers much better than companies that have not focused on these activities.

Beware of behaviors that customers can’t stand, and make it a point to guard against those most likely to irritate or even enrage customers. These include:

• Apathy. Don’t create the impression that you’re bored with your job or customers.

• The brush-off. Two classic brush-offs are “That’s not my department” and “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

• Coldness. Convey the opposite—lots of eye contact, warm smiles, and friendly greetings.

• Robotism. Don’t treat a person as just another customer. He or she is unique and expects (and deserves) to be treated as an individual.

Four “calming” elements will help you respond when an upset customer comes to you with a problem or complaint:

1. Empathy. Identify with the customer’s situation, feelings and motives from his or her point of view. Ask yourself, “If this had happened to me, how would I feel?” An empathetic response could be: “I understand how disappointed you must be with the delay. Let’s see what I can do to help speed things up.”

2. Acknowledgment. Validate the customer’s point of view and restate it to his or her satisfaction. It is not necessary to agree with either the feelings or the facts. You are simply acting as a translator.

3. Reassurance. This will restore your customer’s confidence in you. For example, “If you’ll give me just a few minutes, I think we can work this out between the two of us.”

4. Action. The first three steps will help the customer calm down and recognize that you are interested in working with him or her to solve the problem. But it is not enough to empathize, acknowledge and reassure. Action is what counts.

You can accept that customer’s complaint. But, sometimes customers become so angry that they will make you want to run for cover or strike back. That’s when you draw on all the skills at your disposal to ease the tension and restore good working relationships. According to Rebecca Morgan, author of Calming Upset Customers, some simple steps may help.

• Don’t interrupt too soon to begin working on a solution. The customer will become even more upset at not having a chance to finish. Even worse, you may assume that you know what the customer’s going to complain about—and you may be wrong. That just gives the customer one more reason to be upset.

• Don’t react with humor. Even saying the right thing in too-light a tone of voice could further incense the customer if he or she thinks you are not taking the problem seriously.

• Never argue. This seems almost too obvious to mention, but becoming confrontational is guaranteed to drive customers away.

• Choose your words carefully. Don’t say, “You have to”; instead say, “Maybe it would be better if you,” or “Will you please.” Don’t say, “I can’t”; instead say, “I will try to.”

• Watch your body language. Agitated people tend to be very sensitive to subtle “signals,” most of which we send unconsciously. For example: Don’t invade the upset customer’s space (keep at least arm’s length away and don’t touch the customer). Be aware of your facial expressions. Make a conscious effort to look open and interested in what the customer is saying. Remember to “SOFTEN” your approach. This means:

S: Smile. You’ll project friendliness and receptivity.

O: Open posture. Look attentive, face the customer and don’t cross your arms or legs.

F: Forward leaning. This shows that you’re alert and “with” the other person.

T: Tone. Convey interest with your tone of voice

E: Eye contact. Look directly at the customer, but don’t stare.

N: Nod. This indicates agreement or understanding. Don’t nod too much, however, or you’ll make the customer think you are trying to rush or hurry them up.

The root cause of poor or mediocre customer service goes deep. Quality customer service has to be built around the key service principle that success comes through serving others. Albert Schweitzer said, “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know; the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”

Leaders guide, influence and persuade people throughout their organization. They put themselves in a position to establish goals and priorities along with the transformation and improvement plans that work to close the gaps between what is wanted and what is delivered.

What makes a satisfied customer? One answer comes from James H. Donnelly Jr., author of 25 Management Lessons From the Customer’s Side of the Counter. Here is a partial check-list of “lessons” he teaches for satisfying customers:

• Quality service means never having to say, “That’s not my job.”

• The delivery of quality service is never the customer’s job.

• Many customers “will not return bad service with bad behavior. They are always polite and never get loud, cause a scene, or scream for the manager. They just never come back.”

Competition forces us to pay attention to satisfying customers by providing strong customer service. “Quality customer service” should be our goal. Without customers, there is no business. Keep these facts in mind to operate your business successfully. *