This post is about the importance of being earnest particularly when you’re dealing with a customer.
I remember having a terrible experience with the company that provided my broadband services. I tried to get my problems resolved with customer service agents located in the Philippines. They never fixed the issues. I finally googled the corporation’s name, looked up the annual report, got the name of the most senior executive I could find, called the corporate offices, and left a message asking for help. The executive called me back the following day and apologized profusely; within four working days, all of my problems were solved with a credit on my bill.
I’ve since tried to get to the heart of what was so difficult about this experience for me. The bottom line was that, out of all the customer service people I spoke with, only one person treated me like a human being. All the others showed no empathy and, even worse, no earnestness to actually try to help me. My situation was only resolved because I contacted someone at an executive level who doesn’t even work in customer service figuring that they probably don’t think that losing customers is good for their business.
The definition of earnest is acting “with sincerity and a strong intention.” In home buying, putting down earnest money shows the other party that you’re committed to the purchase, that you’re sincerely interested and engaged. These are exactly the qualities that were lacking in the service representatives hired to help me and other customers.
Some people might argue that the problem arose because this company outsourced its customer service department and, in some cases, that might be true. Expecting people from foreign countries to speak the same emotional language we do is naive. What’s acceptable behavior in one country is definitely unacceptable in others. Unless people are trained to understand some of these differences, effective communication is almost impossible.
My point is that when you’re in the service business, what truly sets you apart from the millions of other service providers is your ability to serve your customers earnestly, so they know you intend to help them in any way you can. Your ability to empathize with their situation when they have difficulties is also key to good service. If you treat them as though you don’t care, you will not retain them. Lots of companies can attract buyers initially, but can’t keep them. In the end, it’s repeat customers who make a difference in the bottom line.
Think about the people you serve, whether external customers or the people in your organization. Are you earnest in your desire to help them? If not, what do you need to do to change your attitude toward your customers or your team members? Do your policies support your people being empowered enough to actually help the customer? Are you following the letter of the law and ignoring the spirit of the law in the way you treat others? Do you have ways of finding out what your customers or team members are actually thinking about their experiences with your company, and are you earnestly trying to do anything to improve these relationships?
Try finding ways to maximize people’s experiences of your service and set things in motion to make it better. If you work in earnest to serve your people better, they will serve their customers better, and you’ll all have a better experience.
For most of us, our only link to a company is through it’s customer service representatives: Whomever we talk to represents the entire corporation. My view of the service provider I mentioned above is that, with the exception of the senior executive I cried out to, everyone was incompetent and unengaged and couldn’t care less whether I had a problem with their service or not. They were just doing their job… or were they?
Kathleen