The Change Dude’s Blog

Be your customer…Be the best

Before Saturday’s NCAA semi-final in downtown Detroit a young student-athlete playing for Michigan State who’s home town is Sterling Heights, Michigan made a slight change to his introductory bio.  He changed his hometown to DETROIT.  Kalin Lucas understood that the fans in Ford Field that night needed to hear their town associated with a member of the Spartan team.  HE GETS IT! 

Customer service training most often focuses on presenting the image and brand of the company service represents.  Not really the wrong thing to do as long as the customer also works for the company.  But in the case that your customers typically are not also employees it’s critically important…to be the customer.   Being the customer means hearing the person asking for assistance.  Hearing the tone of the their voice, the style of their communication, the severity of their concern and taking a moment to determine the best way to interact. 

Listenting for key words in the early stage of a conversation with a customer helps the service provider quickly determine the preferred communication style of that partular customer.  Simple techniques of using those key words and tone can quickly allow a service provider to delight the customer.  Basic Jungian profiles to determine if the customer is a Director, Analytical, Socializer or Amiable.  Once a provider makes this determination speaking the language of the customer is a breeze.

• DIRECTOR: Pleasant tone, business-like and confident with normal volume a relatively quick pace. (Think CEO)
• SOCIALIZER: Friendly, enthusiastic tone with an upbeat pace at a loud volume.  (Think your favorite Uncle)
• AMIABLE: Understated, friendly tone with a rather slow pace and light volume. (Think librarian)
• ANALYICAL: Serious, moderate volume, moderate pace to ensure understanding. (Think CPA)

Responding to each communication style in a way that the customer relates to opens the door for understanding and exceeding expectations.

April 7, 2009 - Posted by thechangedude | Thinking About Customers