All I Really Need To Know About Customer Service I Learned In 'White Men Can't Jump'
So it has been forever, or more specifically 2 years, since my last blog post. That is either a really good sign - so focused on growing the business - or a really bad sign - too busy to step back and smell the roses. Regardless I've
decided to get back into the blogging business.
On that note, we've been quite busy here at GigMasters working to improve the quality of our customer service calls. One thing we've started doing more frequently as a team is listening, analyzing, discussing, and critiquing calls.
On the whole, our customer specialists are doing an amazing job and I couldn't be more pleased with their dedication and hard work.
One thing we noticed, however, is that they will, on occasion, jump right into diagnosing the problem without first expressing sympathy for the impact the problem is having on the customer. So for example, when a member of our site calls indicating he or she is having trouble logging in, a rep might dive right in with 'Have you tried clearing your cookies?' instead of first saying something like 'I know how frustrating that can be ...'
It reminds me of a scene from the movie 'White Men Can't Jump.' (I know. I know. It's a stretch, but humor me). In the scene, the character Gloria (played by Rosie Perez) says to Billy (played by Woody Harrelson) that she is thirsty. His first reaction, naturally, is to immediately go get her a glass of water. Her response is classic. She says (among other things):
'See. if I'm thirsty, I don't want a glass of water,
I want you to sympathize.
I want you to say, "Gloria, I too know what it feels like to be thirsty.
I too have had a dry mouth."
I want you to connect with me through sharing and understanding
the concept of dry mouthedness.'
It is the same thing with customer service. If a customer calls indicating they are having trouble logging in, I believe that before you dive into fixing their problem (which obviously is the most important thing) you want to say [to the effect] 'I too know what it feels like to have trouble logging in. I too have had password problems...'
Of course, I'm being tongue in cheek here, but it's about expressing sympathy. Extending the analogy, you want to first say that you know what it feels like to be thirsty. But then you definitely want to go get them that glass of water.
On that note, we've been quite busy here at GigMasters working to improve the quality of our customer service calls. One thing we've started doing more frequently as a team is listening, analyzing, discussing, and critiquing calls.On the whole, our customer specialists are doing an amazing job and I couldn't be more pleased with their dedication and hard work.
One thing we noticed, however, is that they will, on occasion, jump right into diagnosing the problem without first expressing sympathy for the impact the problem is having on the customer. So for example, when a member of our site calls indicating he or she is having trouble logging in, a rep might dive right in with 'Have you tried clearing your cookies?' instead of first saying something like 'I know how frustrating that can be ...'
It reminds me of a scene from the movie 'White Men Can't Jump.' (I know. I know. It's a stretch, but humor me). In the scene, the character Gloria (played by Rosie Perez) says to Billy (played by Woody Harrelson) that she is thirsty. His first reaction, naturally, is to immediately go get her a glass of water. Her response is classic. She says (among other things):
'See. if I'm thirsty, I don't want a glass of water,
I want you to sympathize.
I want you to say, "Gloria, I too know what it feels like to be thirsty.
I too have had a dry mouth."
I want you to connect with me through sharing and understanding
the concept of dry mouthedness.'
It is the same thing with customer service. If a customer calls indicating they are having trouble logging in, I believe that before you dive into fixing their problem (which obviously is the most important thing) you want to say [to the effect] 'I too know what it feels like to have trouble logging in. I too have had password problems...'
Of course, I'm being tongue in cheek here, but it's about expressing sympathy. Extending the analogy, you want to first say that you know what it feels like to be thirsty. But then you definitely want to go get them that glass of water.
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