Customer Service Needs to be Different for Different Types of Customers – Part 2 – Improving The Customer Experience

Jun 15, 2017 Customer Service Needs to be Different for Different Types of Customers – Part 2 – Improving The Customer Experience

In last week’s post, I talked about needing to provide a different experience for different types of customers.  Then I provided the first of five approaches to getting the right kind of customer facing staff to be able to do it.  I now continue with the remaining four approaches.

2. Instill a culture that values diversity. Every business has a culture and hopefully, yours values and respects diversity. This goes beyond the usual race, religion, etc.  It needs to include a diversity of thought.  This may mean that there are multiple ways to do something, not just one.  They need to be able to approach different customers in different ways.  (There goes your intro script!)  Your employees need to focus on meeting customers’ needs and desires but in different ways.  Your staff needs to understand that this is the right thing to do and that it is in everyone’s interest to serve a broad and diverse group of customers.

3. Training. One way to get the right values and approaches in your staff is to describe hypothetical situations and work through the right approaches to fit the situation. While this is hard and needs to be ongoing, consider the alternative-having staff that cannot meet the needs of a diverse customer set.

4. Be tuned in to the details. Get your staff to watch the faces and mannerisms of your customers and react appropriately. Get them to anticipate the needs of your customers and offer help when they look puzzled. Don’t always wait for a customer to approach.  By teaching your staff to pay attention to body language and expressions – comfortable or not, stressed confused, overwhelmed, etc. you teach your employees to focus on the whole customer.  This will allow them to be much more effective at meeting your customers’ needs and in providing a good customer experience.

5. Be gracious. When an employee is helping a customer, they need to find the right product to meet their needs and they need to do it in a way that does not make the customer feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. By choosing words that shift the conversation to the benefit for the customer from the emotional state or uncomfortable situation the customer finds himself in, sales effectiveness with be greatly improved.