Author:  Roger Sumner

Do you think it’s possible to increase your customer satisfaction ratings by simply making your agents more approachable?
 
Scott Ginsberg says it can be done and I agree.  Scott, who is also known as “The Nametag Guy”, earned his nickname by becoming the only person in the world to wear a nametag 24×7.  He initially did it by accident, forgetting to remove his nametag after a college event. He soon turned it into a study on approachability, and ultimately a business focused on helping companies improve their approachability to increase sales.
 
I’ve been thinking a lot about Scott since he spoke at our Aspect Customer Experience (ACE) conference in March. At that event, Scott talked about the fact that there are times when customers are unhappy and your agents still need to find ways to help them.  Suppose that there is a simple way that your agents could diffuse irate interactions and turn them into positive customer experiences.
 
First, let me say that there are a number of technology-related things you can – and should – do to enhance your customers’ experiences.  You can provide your agents with immediate access to information about customers’ previous interactions, allow your agents to quickly and easily obtain information from knowledge workers or transfer customers to those subject matter experts when appropriate, or implement solutions that prevent your customers from having to repeat information. 
 
You can also arm your agents with key phrases they can use to address and potentially reduce angry emotions. If a customer is calling in frustration because they can’t get their computer software or hardware to work properly, instead of the agent going through a list of basic things that might irritate the caller, the agent can first say, “What have you already tried?”  In some instances, this approach saves time, but it also allows the agent to hear the customer’s challenges and to provide more targeted assistance.  

If your agents show your customers that they care and that they are willing and potentially able to take action, they can turn interactions around pretty easily.  For example, when a customer asks for something unreasonable and the agent knows there is really nothing they can do, the agent can say, “Let me do some research for you.”  This response not only gives the customer the impression that the agent will explore possible options, but that something may be done to accommodate their needs. Of course, words should not be empty and should always be supported by action and follow-up.  In this case, the agent should look into options and get back to the customer with feedback.
 
Have you recently evaluated the approachability of your organization? Could your agents use some new tips and techniques?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Customer Service/Consumer Demands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.