FEATURE ARTICLE
DALE GOODNER
is the supervisor of environmental and interpretive services for the Peoria
Park District His article, "Beyond Customer Service," was published in the
January/February 1999 issue of Illinois Parks & Recreation magazine on
page 21.
Service Is Not Servitude
More good advice for making customers very happy every day, plus ways to deal with those especially difficult people
BY DALE GOODNER
|
The really rough customers are out to wreck your day, but they can only succeed if you let them. |
It's Saturday morning and, for many in parks and recreation, that means it's time to go to work. Your screen saver tells you to "Make every client very happy every day." Are you pumped up? Are you ready for another great day with your favorite people, your customers? Or are you feeling tired and dumped on for having to work weekends?
In this, the sequel to "Beyond Customer Service" (Illinois Parks & Recreation, January/February 1999), we'll look at even more ways to go beyond the call in offering the best service for your customers.
Excellent service starts with attitude
We are responsible for our own attitudes. People visit parks and forest preserves on weekends. Starring on these days is a given. Keep your attitude positive. Don't let schedule, salary, co-workers, or nasty customers drag you down. Once you accept the opportunity to work in this business of public service, make the most of it.
When I worked as a naturalist, I looked forward to weekends. Why? In a word, customers. I got to know our "regulars." Each day was a learning experience. I came to understand what my mentor, retired naturalist Bob Prager, had meant when he asserted, "Working in a nature center is a privilege." I wanted to be a naturalist because of my love of forests and prairies, but I really loved my job because of customers.
Communicating and interacting with customers is crucial to excellent service
In the words of Fred Jandt, author of The Customer is Usually Wrong: "Services involve a communication interaction, an interchange, or a negotiation between the customer and a representative of the service organization. That communication interaction—so distinctive of services—is what creates its value for the customer."
It's only when customers are talking that we can understand and respond to their needs, expectations, and perceptions. A good way to encourage customers is to ask open-ended questions. For example, "Could you describe the area surrounding your yard?" or "What was it doing?" or "How can we help you?"
The answers to these questions can reveal the following:
1) priorities, focusing on what the customer feels is important;
2) information you may not have anticipated (you're looking from their point of view);
3) perceptions (they may be fearful that snakes are dangerous);
4) knowledge (they may think moles are rodents and will take over their yard); or
5) emotional state (they may be terrified of spiders).
The customer may just need to vent before you can help solve the issue. The mere fact that you are paying attention helps to build a relationship.
According to Jandt, satisfied service consumers are more likely to express appreciation than dissatisfied service consumers are likely to complain. Says Jandt: "If you're doing a good service job, you'll likely hear about it."
If you're not hearing about it, you should probably fix it. Service consumers, after all, are more likely than product consumers to rely on what they've been told by oth-
May/June 1999 /19
ers. You definitely need to make sure your customers' needs are being met, since they are your best salespeople.
|
The rule for
negotiators—and
for service
providers—is
listen 80 percent
of the time, talk
only 20 percent
of the time." |
Problem solving has priority
It's a problem when the customer says it's a problem. Fix things that go wrong. Make the extra effort (e.g., extend the sale period, call around for alternative sites, whatever it takes).
Solve problems with a sense of urgency. Apologize, listen and empathize. Fix the problem, offer atonement. Try a "value-added" gesture. Keep promises and check back days later.
On any road, there are some bumps along the way. Sooner or later you run into people you just can't satisfy. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: "You can't please all the people all the time."
As a young man, Lincoln had worked in a store serving customers, so he knew. But what about those famous customer service rules etched in a 6,000 pound stone outside Stew Leonard's dairy store in Norwalk Connecticut (the world's largest and most profitable dairy store)?
• Rule # 1: The customer is always right.
• Rule # 2: If the customer is ever wrong, re-read Rule 1.
According to Anderson and Zemke (authors of Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service), customers cause 33 percent of the problems they complain about. Some want to do things that are against agency policy.
Obviously the customer is NOT always right
Yet, there's truth in Stew Leonard's rules. We should coach our staff to make customers glad they came. Just don't expect 100 percent success. There will be an occasional customer who makes you glad he or she left.
For the sake of our service providers, we need an objective that spells out reasonable expectations. For example:
To provide parks and recreation services at a level and price that meet or exceed customer expectations, in a friendly manner, that is pleasing to the customers but which also provides for the person providing the service an experience that's not demeaning, that the person can be proud of and feel rewarded by.
This can be more difficult than it seems. All of us who have worked extensively with customers have occasionally dealt with a frustrated person who just needs some understanding and a sympathetic ear. There are rare instances when you just can't get through, and may become subjected to verbal assault. The really rough customers are out to wreck your day, but can only succeed if you let them.
It's hard to say what triggers hostile behavior. I have a hunch it has only a little to do with the actual complaint or question at hand. The cause is not as important as what to do about it.
With luck you may never be confronted by a real live fire-breathing hostile customer. If it does happen, AL Guyant and Shirley Fulton offer the following practical recommendations in their book, Managers Tough Questions Answer Book.
• It's important to realize that more often than not, hostile questions aren't really questions.
According to Fulton and Guyant: "Most hostile questioners do not seek information alone, if at all. They usually attempt to damage, divide, embarrass, or defeat either you or your organization. They are more like moves in a chess game than like a discussion. If you treat them as a discussion, you lose."
• You could be targeted because you represent "typical government." This stereotype implies
lazy and uncaring. The mere fact that your salary is paid by taxes can make you a target. For example: "My tax dollars pay your salary, aren't you supposed to serve the public? Do you enjoy playing God? You'd never make it in the real world."
I once received the following verbal salvo: "Your camp director made my neighbor's kid sit in the hot sun while the other kids ate lunch in the shade. I demand you fire the blankety blank. What are you going to do about it?"
I knew the camp director to be a conscientious, caring, intelligent individual. The alleged behavior would have been totally out of character. The accuser had a lot of hostility, and I certainly didn't want to add to it.
Answering the question can be like stepping into a verbal trap. Avoid a reaction such as: "I cant understand why he would do something like that. We'll certainly take disciplinary action." Your employee may be perfectly innocent.
An appropriate response keeps you in control, avoids assuming innocence or guilt, and conveys sensitivity. Try instead: "Obviously you feel upset. I'll look into this and let you know what I have found out. Thank you for taking the time to draw this to my attention. This is not the way our staff are trained."
Don't suggest the customer is wrong, and also don't assume that your employee is guilty, or suggest any kind of discipline.
• Don't be a chump. Oftentimes, hostile people try to manipulate you with behavior so offensive, that you just give in, to put an end to it. They may be fishing for free passes, refunds, special discounts, or other value addons, and are all too often successful. That's why the be-
20/ Illinois Parks and Recreation
havior is repeated. Fulton and Guyant recommend three steps to diffuse a hostile customer.
Step 1: Wait for a lull, and calmly stare, "If you don't mind I would like to get a clearer idea of what we are dealing with. Tell me again what happened. " Listen, but interrupt politely after a minute or two.
Step 2: "Okay, I've got a pretty good idea about what happened. What's happening now?" Again listen for a minute, and then interrupt for step 3.
Step 3: "I understand what happened and what's happening now, so what would you want done next?"
If this doesn't have the desired effect, wait for a another lull, and continue. "Okay, I'm ready to take notes. Please go ahead and tell me again. " Remain calm, don't argue, and don't make excuses.
If necessary you may have to switch communication method. They recommend that if the preceding doesn't work, you may have no choice but to take an address and send a letter regarding policy and disposition of the issue. Let your calm behavior send a message that you will not be intimidated. Remember that you don't have to be subjected to profanity and abuse.
Excellent service is a "win/win" relationship
Service is not the same as servitude. In order to gain from the customer relationship, it is valuable to have at least some negotiating skills. Fred Jandt, who also wrote Win Win Negotiating, states that many people think effective negotiators are skilled talkers.
According to Jandt: "In fact, the most effective negotiators are very skilled listeners. In order to listen, you can't be talking. The rule for negotiators— and for service providers—is listen 80 percent of the time, talk only 20 percent of the time."
Have fun and enjoy your customers, chances are they will be back. With a little skill, problems won't get out of hand, and you can even look forward to working weekends.
21/ Illinois Parks and Recreation