Customer Service Skills Training in Malaysia | Create Great Memories For Customers
Anyone who is world-class is memorable. Be memorable! Who has a great memory of you?
Human beings are storytellers. Ever since the year dot families have sat down together over a meal and told each other stories: of encounters with others, of friends and foes, of fights and good fortune.
Despite email, text messaging, and the mobile phone, most people still like to socialize by sitting around and sharing such experiences. They are keen to learn what has happened to one another.
The memories thus created form the basis of relationships. When the memories are positive and powerful, the relationship buzzes. It is therefore important for employees to do little things for customers that they will remember and that they will want to tell their families and friends about when they get back home.
When the experience is bad and the memory lingers, there is always a high probability that a customer won’t return. Memory influences choice and so influences the decisions that customers make. It is unlikely that we will return to a restaurant where we have a bad memory of our previous visit, for example. We are more likely to return to places of which we have good memories. Customers, like elephants, never forget.
Sharon, who works in customer relations for one of the local bank, states, “I want every single customer who rings me to have a good memory of me when the call is finished.”
Creating a positive memory requires unexpected action that registers in a customer’s mind. When front-line people mechanically go through the transaction routine, their customers feel like numbers and can hardly remember the people who serve them.
So it is important to rise above the routine, to treat customers like human beings and do something special that will be remembered, like take a special interest in their particular circumstances.
No company can risk creating negative memories and this means avoiding any incident that alienates a customer. These often happen by default, for example when a customer is kept waiting for a long time without explanation or when a call-back is promised but does not occur.
The best protection against this is to initiate one or two good little things that a customer will remember. Here are some examples:
✔ Just be exceptionally friendly.
✔ Get back to a customer more quickly than he or she expected.
✔ Be bright and happy in doing your best to help, whatever the problem.
✔ Chat to a customer’s children and take an interest in them.
✔ Take time out to help a customer with a specific problem.
✔ Share an interest with a customer.
✔ Follow up with a customer.
You might wish to recall your own recent experiences as a customer with various organizations over the last month. How many positive memories do you have? Compare these with the negative memories and those that are less than memorable.
EXCELLENCE CUSTOMER SERVICE PRACTICE
Keep an informal log listing the things that you and your team do to create positive memories for customers. Review this list on a daily basis.
EXCELLENCE CUSTOMER SERVICE QUOTE
The memories your customers have of your company will determine its future success or failure.
