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"

Great Customer Care - Ryan Air Style

I am just going to paste the link on - and invite comments...


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/your_say/article5773179.ece

Excellent Customer Care

I received the following story of customer care from a reader of this blog:

For all Who Work With Rude Customers:

An award should go to the Virgin Airlines desk attendant in Sydney
some months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point,
when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as
cargo.

A crowded Virgin flight was cancelled after Virgin's 767s had been
withdrawn from service. A single attendant was rebooking a long line
of inconvenienced travellers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his
way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said,
'I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS'.


The attendant replied, 'I'm sorry, sir. I'll be happy to try to help
you, but I've got to help these people first, and I'm sure we'll be
able to work something out..' The passenger was unimpressed. He asked
loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, 'DO YOU HAVE ANY
IDEA WHO I AM?'

Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public
address microphone: 'May I have your attention please, may I have your
attention please,' she began - her voice heard clearly throughout the
terminal.

We have a passenger here at Desk 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If
anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Desk 14.'

With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man
glared at the Virgin attendant, gritted his teeth and said, 'F...
You!'

Without flinching, she smiled and said, 'I'm sorry,
sir, but you'll have to get in line for that too.

So do you think this was the best response???