Smile, Speak, Serve

Last night I watched the wonderful Mary Portas in her new crusade to improve customer service within the Retail Industry. Everyone has experienced poor customer service when shopping, and it is very frustrating at times. I have stopped shopping at certain shops due to the shop assistants' attitude.

However, poor customer service is not exclusively found within the retail industry and it is something we ALL need to be aware of, since the majority of use work within the service industry, or if we are selling a product, there are still customers that require service for delivery of the products. Mary is quite right in saying that good customer service elevates a business to a new level.

I like Mary's somewhat cheesy take on customer care: "Smile, Speak, Serve", but it can be applied to any business situation.

Smile: When you smile you become more approachable; you voice alters becoming less tense. This is something that can be applied on the telephone as well as face to face.

Speak: Engage the customer; acknowledge they are there; welcome them. Answering the telephone the first thing one says could be "Good morning" - you'd be amazed at how many businesses don't answer the phone like this.

Serve: "How can I help you?" is the easiest thing to say, whether you are face to face or on the phone.

The programme didn't touch body language or intentions. Unfortunately some people are trained to say particular things (scripted cold calls for example, rarely sound authentic), and they can sound insincere or their body language is saying something else.

It is a very interesting programme and certainly I'm hooked! I look forward to the next programme which I will be blogging about.

For more information on how to speak on the phone, buy our CD "Make an Impact on the Telephone"