That is a seriously cheesy title for this post, but I am a customer care exec so the topic tends to be on my mind a lot. While most of my career has been focused on software product development, I have been managing customers for many years. What have I learned?
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The people you serve are just…people. You don’t serve Corporation X. You don’t manage Project Y. You help Susan and Mark and Vanessa and Sam. Just like you, these individuals will have good days and bad days. Some of them will be mostly kind and cooperative. Some of them will be mostly cantankerous and surly. Most will be somewhere in the middle, but will swing to either end of the pendulum depending on the level of service your company is providing. Or simply because they are having a bad day that has absolutely nothing to do with you or the company you represent.
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Because they are just people, personal connection matters. Sales people know this. That is why they spend the time to offer lunch, dinner, a round of golf and tickets to a Nuggets game. Well, if they are offering that final option this week, you have one heck of a great vendor. Taking that extra time to get to know a customer personally goes a long way. We learned this first hand recently after what ended up being an, um, “expansive” night of drinks and dinner with a very important customer on the East Coast. They were quick to acknowledge that this event helped various staff members to bond and get to know one another in a way that makes them all feel more a part of a unified team.
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“Find the best in everybody; no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it” – most of you probably recognize that quote as coming from Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. This quote haunts me and I try very hard to use it as a mantra when I am personally dealing with a challenging personality. I hope that people who find me challenging are using it as well. From the perspective of managing customers, I can’t count the number of times this lesson has proven itself to be true. Continue to go above and beyond, act with the utmost professionalism, keep a sense of humor and over-deliver when you can. I’ll bet you just about anything that your most difficult customer will come around. It may take months or years….but, it will happen.
Now, how about the flip side? As a customer, what can you do to make me feel cared for?
Do deliver what you tell me you are going to deliver. If you can’t deliver, give me an honest answer as to why you can’t now and when you will. Don’t talk down to me. Don’t try and make up for shoddy service or products by treating me to a round of golf or buying me a gift basket. Feel free to buy me a round of golf or a gift basket as long as you are delivering quality services and product. Make up for mistakes. Quickly. Don’t make me contact you 5 times before you return my emails and/or calls. Unless I am being a jerk and sending you emails or leaving messages every half hour. Appreciate my preferred method of communication and try to use it, e.g. don’t return every email with a phone call.
Oops…way too much time on this blog post. Back to our customers!
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