Welcome to our August issue of our Spotlight on Service (SOS) newsletter designed to help those of us looking for ways to improve their service culture and customer experience.
You’re part of an ever-growing group of readers focused on service excellence so thank you for taking this journey with us as we endeavour to share our thoughts and ideas on how to truly stand out in your field – just like our old friend the Purple Cow!
Mary Portas said to me…
I’ve never been shy about speaking up for things I believe in, however controversial, and only ever back down from a ruck in the name of delivering awesome customer service. So, after being inspired and educated to the hilt at the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Conference in London some years ago I simply had to write a blog about it – even though I expected to ruffle a few feathers!
The blog is titled ‘Do women have emotionally healthier minds than men?’ and it’s on our website if you want to learn more (https://firstimpression.training/emotionalhealth), but I’ll share a few of its thoughts here to see if I can provoke a few in you…
Is a healthy mind a strong one?
Research shows that women are twice as likely to be prescribed anti-depressant drugs, when displaying the same ‘symptoms’ of depression, as men. Is this due to women’s stronger emotional powers of expression or an assumption bias on the part of GPs? Dr Chris Irons, Director and Clinical Psychologist at Balanced Minds, spoke about the Three Emotional Systems that run the human mind: our Threat System, Drive System and Soothing Systems. He described their impact on our emotional health and wellbeing, and how women have a more functional Soothing System. Similarly, a Reuters Health study into mindfulness and meditation showed female students benefited more from these practices than their male counterparts.
What does this have to do with Mary Portas?
I am proud to be both open-minded and non-judgemental, yet many of the speakers genuinely challenged my thinking that day. One of my big takeaways is that we all have so much more to learn about ourselves and others. Only then can we recognise each other’s strengths and weaknesses to create more mutual respect and equality. It got me thinking that stronger human connections (male and female) can only come from being truly present; genuinely caring; showing respect and being attentive, and being open to learning from others, without preconception or bias.
Mary ‘Queen of Shops’ Portas is one of my favourite females. She read the blog I mentioned earlier and tweeted to say how much it resonated with her. She’s big on random acts of kindness and WOW’ing people, without wanting pay-back, and I hope she knows that her little tweet WOW’ed me big time! She made a similarly big impression when I met her a few years ago, and we spoke about how little effort it takes to truly make someone else’s day.
So, my final thought is this: How could you WOW someone today and Make Their Day?
Read on to find out.
Four awesome ways to make someone’s day!
There is no point reading a recipe book if you would rather someone else cooked for you. No one other than a genuine football fan would spend hundreds of pounds from their savings on an FA Cup Final ticket. Likewise, only a person who loves making other people’s days brighter can truly succeed in customer service land. Skills and techniques can be learned – desire to please is priceless.
So, if you are someone who genuinely wants to create WOW’s wherever you go (at work or play), here are a few hints and tips to start you on your journey to service excellence:
Use your customer’s name: You will be amazed at how powerful this little effort at courtesy can be. The trick is to be 100% present when they tell you their name (or when you ask for it) and clarify if it is a tricky one to pronounce. Ask them to help you SAY their name correctly – they’ll appreciate that you care. Avoid Sir or Madam (that stinks of formality and is impersonal) although be careful not to overuse the name either – overuse can be as bad as no use at all!
Mirror your customer’s language: This is a real art – and it is certainly worth putting in the time to perfect it. In simple terms, it means you learn to listen to your customer’s style before committing to yours. If they sound formal, adopt a more business-like approach; if they are conversational, a chatty or casual style will get you on their word-wavelength. Try and match the pace and rhythm of their speech too, and if they use a specific term for something, you should do the same. Mastery of this technique will even allow you to reverse the effect and lead an angry tone down to a calm one.
Manage your customer’s expectations: Another technique in the customer WOW toolbox is the UPOD Rule (Under Promise / Over Deliver). Simply state what you are going to do, by when – pre-frame times with a ‘by’ (lunchtime) or ‘before’ (close of play) or ‘within’ (the hour) and assure your customer that they can ‘leave it with you.’ The key is to give yourself more time than you need and MAKE SURE (even if it’s just an update) that you always respond within that timeframe.
Always use ‘can do’ words: Listen to people speak, and you’ll notice the default setting for most is to focus on negative words and phrases, “I’m sorry but…” “unfortunately, we can’t…” “I’m afraid that…” which sets our Bad News tape to play immediately.
With a little thought and training, even bad news can be presented in a more positive light. FIRST, focus on what you CAN do, “I can certainly arrange an appointment for you next week, although David is fully booked this week.”
Switch to the positive, and you’re always more likely to make someone’s day.
Book Review: Make Their Day: Awesome Ways to Wow Your Customers
I trust you’ll indulge me here because, this month, we’re reviewing my very own book “Make Their Day: Awesome Ways to Wow Your Customers” for one very good reason – it delves deeply into many of the techniques that I have learned, observed and developed over the last 45 years (yes – I’ve been around that long!).
Mixed with stories and examples (my own and others’), the book aims to demystify the art of customer service, while teaching you simple things that you can do each day to make someone else’s day awesome.
However, rather than have you listen to me marking my own homework, I’m sharing a wonderful review of Make Their Day written by one of our guides and business mentors, Nigel Botterill, head of Entrepreneurs Circle. Hope you enjoy the read;
Make Their Day Book Review – Nigel Botterill
With the subtitle ‘Awesome Ways to WOW Your Customers’ Marie Cross’ book ‘Make Their Day’ delves into the inside story of what it takes to deliver truly remarkable customer service – and the ridiculous ease by which we can all achieve this, based on Marie’s 40+ years in the service industry.
As Training Director for First Impression Training, Marie is a customer service fanatic who believes that good customer service isn’t good enough in today’s competitive marketplace.
When up to 84% of a customer’s decision to do business with you (and remain loyal to you) is based on how you make them FEEL, then you should be ensuring you’re doing everything in your power to appeal to those emotions and ensure your customers choose you above your competitors.
When you operate in a busy field, where your products & services; your pricing; your terms of business &/or delivery times are all “much-of-a-muchness”, then what is it that you can do to truly stand out from others in your industry? The answer, of course, is that YOU need to show up and stand out like no one else can or will – because YOU are the difference that will make the difference to your customer’s experience.
So, if you work in a customer service &/or sales role, where you may be struggling to differentiate yourself from other players in your field, then this book was written just for you.
Mixed with real-case stories and examples, ‘Make Their Day’ aims to demystify the art of customer service, whilst teaching you simple and easy tips, techniques and ideas you can apply each and every day to make someone else’s day… awesome!
“Not one to waste time delivering strategy papers” (a quote from one of her own clients) Marie rolls her sleeves up in the book, practising what she preaches and shares her thoughts about a wide range of powerful topics, including:
The Success Recipe – understanding how your attitude is the foundation of your success
Developing a Language of Influence – how to make your conversations stand out from the crowd by getting rid of the plethora of negative and neutral words we use every day
How to Manage Difficult Conversations – a range of simple strategies you can quickly use to manage difficult conversation, whilst maintaining control and keeping rapport intact
Questioning Skills & Probing Techniques – creating conversation, as opposed to interrogation, to find out what your customer or prospect wants or needs from you
Active Listening – 1 of the 4 key communication skills. How to get into Level 3 listening mode when we’re communicating with others, in order to achieve the win-win
There’s plenty more too – all based on Marie’s hands-on experience and decades of practical and academic study into the subject of human communication within the customer service environment.
This book gives a real insight into the solutions that Marie and her team at First Impression Training deliver for their corporate clients, focused on developing the talent of frontline customer service staff throughout the UK. As she says herself “this isn’t rocket science” – highlighting the fact that it’s often the smallest of changes that have the biggest impact!
In the movie Any Given Sunday, Al Pacino plays American football coach Tony D’Amato. Up against it and trailing at half-time in a critical game, Pacino gives one of the best speeches in Hollywood history. “The inches we need are all around us” he explains. “It’s the little things that make the difference”. What Marie has done in this book is compress 100 yards of inches into a single digestible volume.
These are the inches that individually, and collectively, can and will help you and your team to win at business. More specifically to win at serving your customers.
“And when we add up all those inches, that’s what makes the difference between winning and losing….” Pacino ends passionately, as the heart of his team beat faster and they roar out onto the pitch.
There may not be quite as much testosterone in your office as you work through this incredibly useful book, but the impact will be no less great!
If you enjoyed Nigel’s review you can grab your own copy of “Make Their Day: Awesome Ways to Wow Your Customers here https://www.firstimpressiontraining.co.uk/make-their-day
See you next month…..
Well that’s it for this month – hope you found a gold-nugget in this months newsletter and we look forward to catching up with you again in next month’s Spotlight on Service (SOS).
Wishing you much success in the meantime,
Marie and the FIT team
PS – If you’d like to find out more about how we might help support your business to deliver world-class, Purple Cow service to your customers do feel free to book your 30 minute Discovery Call here https://firstimpression.training/DiscoveryCall30
