Over the next few weeks, we will be talking about the three C's of Customer Experience. They are Caring, Communication, and Consistency. Today, our topic will be Caring.
Picture this, admittedly unlikely, scenario:
It’s a sub-zero January night, and you’ve just broken down on a windswept country road somewhere far up North. With two young children in the back of the car and limited battery to keep warm, this is a potentially dangerous situation. You reach for your phone and call a roadside assistance service. Half an hour later, a set of fog lights appear in the swirling mist, and a tow-truck slowly emerges. Here is where we split into two very different possible situations:
Situation One: The engineer disembarks their vehicle, stubs out a cigarette and grunts a cursory salutation. He then sets to work, huffing and puffing away, until, having tried and failed several times to fix the fault, jumpstarts you and sends you on your frostbitten way – seemingly unperturbed by the likelihood that you’ll break down again in around fifteen minutes’ time.
Situation Two: The engineer arrives having already been briefed on your situation by her operator. She knows that you have two (likely shivering) children with you, and comes prepared with heated blankets. She greets you warmly and checks that you are ok before towing you to a local service station. There, she sets about carefully and methodically fixing the fault first time round, whilst you and your family recover with a round of hot drinks. Done and dusted, she allows you to test the vehicle and, handing you her direct number in case the situation recurs over the next hour, she bids you a safe journey.
This is the kind of analogy that may be helpful for those in client-facing roles. Consider how it may affect your clients in such contrasting scenarios.
The likelihood is that, whilst Engineer One demonstrated an absolute lack of care on multiple levels and left you, as a loyal customer, feeling more than a little bit swindled, Engineer Two would have left you with a sense of being genuinely valued and cared for. The takeaway here is that, at the beginning of each and every call, your customers have just landed at their Breakdown Point; which engineer you send is ultimately up to you, but make no mistake that your decision will have a huge and lasting impact on your client’s trust in you as a company – and their decision as to whether or not to remain customers.
Interested in learning how to get your team Customer Experience trained? Reach out to our office at 905-228-4809 today!
