YAWN… I CAN’T WAIT TO STOP HELPING THESE CUSTOMERS AND LEAVE THIS PLACE.
Did this really just happen? People, when you are paid to speak to your customers on the phone, please don’t take total leave of your senses and treat us with complete lack of common courtesy. I think I may have just found a prospective new client in need of some training to improve their customer service telephone skills.
Having received a bill in the mail, I called the facility to pay with my credit card. I was greeted by a woman who was not rude, but certainly didn’t sound cheerful or happy to help me. She sounded bored by having to help me and asked me for my account number. While she was waiting for the account to come up, she actually yawned with an audible sound! I asked her if she was tired. She said it had been a long Monday and she couldn’t wait to get home. Then, she did half-heartedly apologize for yawning while on the phone with me. Well, at least there was an apology.
All business owners, leader and managers, RIGHT NOW, have a quick meeting with your staff that comes into contact with your customers in any way and tell them that it is absolutely unacceptable to yawn audibly in front of your customers, even on the phone.
Now, I completely understand the overwhelming need to yawn. If you absolutely must, then go ahead, but USE YOUR MANNERS! Cover your mouth and try to minimize the yawn. Then, IMMEDIATELY apologize. If you are on the phone, cover the mouthpiece if you even think there may be a sound involved.
As a customer, all I know is that I’m pretty irritated that this customer service representative didn’t possess the most basic telephone skills required to properly handle my call in a pleasant manner.
1. She wasn’t cheerful or pleasant with me at all. – Anyone who even remotely comes into contact with customers must be pleasant and cheerful at all times. Not giddy, just pleasant and personable is considered professional and respectful.
2. She merely processed me through the system. She didn’t engage with me at all on any level. – At no point during our brief conversation did I feel that I was anything more than an account that was being paid. I didn’t feel like a person, or even really a customer that was paying them for a service provided.
3. She openly and audibly yawned during our interaction, then didn’t apologize. – Really? Do I need to say more?
4. She openly told me it had been a long day and told me she couldn’t wait to leave for the day. – Everyone in your company should have the mindset that without the customers, they wouldn’t have a job to be bored with in the first place. We are paying you to do business with us. Respect that.
Treat your customers with the respect they deserve by spending their dollars with you. Now, do you think I’m going to look elsewhere for this service by someone who may actually appreciate the fact I’m spending my money with them and not their competition? Absolutely.
Kristina Evey brings more than 15 years of experience in leadership and management to Centric Strategies. Her background includes leadership roles in a national insurance company, a management consultant for several companies, and as a manager of multiple medical sites for the largest multi-specialty medical group in Michigan.
In addition to this real world experience, she holds a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from San Diego State University with an emphasis on Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
Kristina is also certified in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) in order to help clients use the language of the mind to consistently achieve specific and desired outcomes.
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