Want to raise service standards in your contact centre, but don’t know where to focus your efforts for the best results?
Pierre Bauzee, Founder of Beyond Satisfaction, explains all – as he delves into the key skills your people should be trained on to deliver an exceptional experience, time after time.
1. Managing and Exceeding Customers’ Expectations
When it comes to managing expectations, your team can only do it effectively if they understand why they are doing it.
Here are some reasons you should definitely share with your team, so they have the correct mindset when it comes to this key topic:
- To make sure your clients have all information related to your offer
- To provide the offer you should and want to provide
- To make sure your customers get the best out of what you provide
- To avoid future complaints
- To protect your business
Now we’ve covered the “why” (so your people have the correct mindset), let’s cover the “what” (how to get your people to effectively manage your customers’ expectations).
Here are 5 stages to successfully manage your customers’ expectations:
- Be crystal clear on what information you need from your customers
- Give them all the required information you need them to be aware of
- Target the discrepancies from what they tell you
- Have courageous conversations accordingly (see below for more information)
- Never overpromise
2. Handling Complaints Effectively
Dealing successfully with complaints is all about perspective. The minute we change our perspective around complaining customers, we change our approach to complaints.
Did you know you can turn a complaint into one of the best ways to show genuine care, generate even more trust from customers, or give your team another opportunity to set boundaries or re-manage expectations?
But there is one main thing which makes a huge difference when it comes to complaints handling: making the best impact on your customers’ emotional perception!
Science tells us that human reactions and decision-making processes are emotional first and then logical. So, when we decide to resolve a situation with logic alone, without considering and acknowledging first its emotional origin, it is a recipe for failure.
So, let’s take the 3 key stages of successful complaints handling, which are:
- Active listening
- Paraphrasing
- Sympathizing
The reason you want your team to focus on these 3 stages before even thinking of finding a solution is that, by doing so, they will positively acknowledge and show care towards the customer’s perspective.
This will make a positive impact on their emotional perception, so you can turn the situation into an opportunity rather than a threat. Only once your team has successfully done this can the complaint be effectively resolved.
If you are looking for more advice on handling customer complaints, read our article: Customer Complaints? Try This 10-Point Plan
3. Becoming a Master in Courageous Conversations and Objections Handling
Let’s start by asking ourselves what is a courageous conversation?
A courageous conversation is a conversation you have with a customer on a disagreement. The aim of these conversations is to stand your ground diplomatically – without making it conflictual.
So how do you do this? You need to make their needs the reason behind your argument, so they are more likely to agree with you.
For instance, if a customer has unrealistic deadlines, your team can make it about the fact that only with your deadline will they get the full value from what you are providing.
But one of the best ways to become a master in courageous conversations is to be prepared before having them.
Here are some powerful steps your team needs to follow to effectively do so:
- Be prepared – know exactly what you want to address and what outcome you want
- Anticipate challenging questions and objections by preparing your answers accordingly
- Do not fall into the trap of becoming defensive
- On top of their needs, remember to use your expertise
- Come to a point of agreement, obtain commitment and mention the next stage(s)
And what about objections handling?
Well, it is first crucial to understand that objection handling is not necessarily about sales objections, but also the objections you get in general when dealing with your customers. It works amazingly well for both sales AND customer service.
Here is the roadmap to successful objection handling:
- Paraphrase their concerns and get them to speak more about it with open-ended questions
- Acknowledge their objection (“I totally understand where you are coming from…”)
- Use the “no-why-but” approach
- Give them several alternatives if possible and applicable
- Become an expert in courageous conversations by being prepared
For more advice on managing customer objections, read our article: Handling Sales Objections Over The Telephone
4. Effectively Setting Your Boundaries With Your Customers
Effectively setting boundaries with challenging customers definitely starts with knowing your own limits as a business and as a team. And the best way to do this is to get your team to ask themselves the correct questions.
Having a list of questions that your people can ask themselves when facing these kinds of clients is crucial to set your limits accordingly as a business. It will also help you find the most important piece of information: why these clients are like this.
Last but definitely not least, it is also about getting your people to understand what those limits are. As only with clarity around your boundaries can your people be consistent in effectively setting them.
So, let’s see some questions your people can ask themselves:
- Did we say yes to something we shouldn’t?
- Does this client represent a threat to the business?
- Is the client taking things for granted that they should not?
- Do I need to re-manage expectations / re-have a courageous conversation?
And here are some key things your team needs to know:
- Know your boundaries when it comes to your offer and the way you provide it
- Have a limit to flexibility, whilst being flexible with the right clients
- What are the 5 things from your Terms and Conditions you want to send by writing or mention verbally?
- Set boundaries with the “no-why-but” approach
Regarding this last point, learning to say no to your clients is key, and the “no-why-but” approach is definitely a key method to effectively do so.
With this approach, you are indeed saying no without properly saying it (“unfortunately, this is not something we can do….”) while explaining the reason behind it (by making it about their needs) and giving them an alternative solution wherever possible.
5. Understanding Your Customers’ Perspective and Situation Better
Understanding your customers’ perspective on a regular basis definitely starts with having the correct mindset:
- Something you may see as “not important” or “secondary” may be a huge priority to your customer
- Things that seem obvious to you may not be obvious to your customers
- Understand that each customer’s need is different – even for the same offer
As every situation is different, what should your people look for in order to understand that perspective effectively?
Here are some key perspectives your team should look to understand when dealing with customers:
- Understand the customer journey – related to the information your team needs to have or ask
- Understand the impact of a situation on the customer and their stress level – related to the urgency and priority of the situation
- Understand the customer’s level of knowledge – related to the information your team needs to give
- Understand the customer’s personality – related to how your team should handle the customer
For the steps you need to take to better understand every customer, read our article: 3 Steps to Better Understanding Your Customers
Your Team Can Only Apply These Methods If They Feel Empowered in Their Roles!
Never forget, you can have the best methods in place, but great customer service starts with a team feeling proud, empowered and acknowledged when it comes to successfully delivering it.
So, when it comes to the best customer service skills and methods your team really need, the first thing to understand is that they can only apply these methods effectively if they feel empowered and important in their role.
Written by: Pierre Bauzee, Founder of Beyond Satisfaction
We have more great articles on vital customer service skills, so you should read these articles next:
- 5 Soft Skills Every Agent Needs Before Taking Their First Call
- The 7 Cs of Effective Communication
- How to Develop Empathy as a Skill in Your Frontline Teams
Author: Pierre Bauzee
Reviewed by: Megan Jones
Published On: 30th Oct 2024 - Last modified: 5th Nov 2024
Read more about - Skills, Customer Expectations, Customer Service, CX, Editor's Picks, Pierre Bauzee, Top Story