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Executive Interviews: Interview with Jeff Gee on Competing for Customers
September 2006
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
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In this age of customer centric
innovation/product development, what
should be the customer service premise?
What kinds of precautions need to be
taken as regards the customer service?
The only precaution that needs to be
taken as regards customer service is
to teach people how to be amazing
with customers. Thats because even
if a product is amazing if the
service does not meet expectations,
sales will fall. People today have
high expectations, and rightly so.
Our job in customer service is to
develop ourselves as human beings
so that we grow as individuals, and
as companies.
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How does one manage irate
customers?
There are 10 steps to managing an
irate customer and they begin with
showing empathy. This does not
mean saying, "I understand your
situation." Because the customer
may rightly say, "No you don't."
Showing empathy means putting
yourself in the customers shoes.Imagine them as beloved family
members how would you manage
themif you wanted to help themand
be less distressed. Remember, the
customers are not angry at
you they are in an angry situation.
Their anger actually has nothing to
do with you and the following
steps will help them to come back to
a state of communication that you
can handle.
- Show empathy that you
understand their situation.
- Encourage venting to help them get
rid of their anger.
- Stay objective and don't take it
personally.
- Remain calm to the
situation by remaining peaceful.
- Listen attentively and show you are
listening.
- Take responsibility and
show urgency.
- Involve the
customer in the solution.
- Give
added value.
- Provide an action
plan.
- Involve your management.
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It is generally an agreed fact that before
any company looks out of its window for
new customers, it should have developed
an internal army of customers. What,
according to you, is the substantiation
behind this reasoning? What are the best
ways to nurture internal customers?
US News & World Report found that
the following percentage of
customers quit buying from
companies because:
- Someone in the company dies
1%
- Make Other Friendships 3%
- Change Location 5%
- Go to Competition 9%
- Dissatisfied 14%
- Of Indifference by One Employee 68%
- It gets worse
- Only one customer complains
- Twenty-four are dissatisfied but
donot complain
- Six of the 24 non complainers
have "serious" problems
- The 24 non complainers tell
between 10 and 20 other people
about their bad experiences
- ThereforeFrom just 25
customers nearly 250 to 500
potential customers learn about
the bad service!
So the best way to nurture
internal customers is to teach them
how to be amazing individuals who
take responsibility for their actions
and feel empowered to live the kind
of life they want to live. In the end
result, happy employees make
happy customers, both internal and
external. What are the latest insights on
customer relationship management?
If you have noticed, some companies
now have voice recognition systems
which ask you to "say" your account
number and repeat the number to
ensure the system has the correct
information. So the latest CRM
systems are trying to replicate the
human customer service provider as
much as possible. And of course, it's
also about speed. Customers want
fast answers even faster!
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