I recently had the good fortune to work in Australia for an international client.  It was a wonderful experience and a great adventure.  It also provided me with a lesson in good customer service delivery.  The lesson?  Good customer service is not always the same for every customer.  It all depends on meeting the customer’s expectations.

The hotel I stayed at was in Manly, a suburb of Sydney.  We were literally on the coast and Manly boasted a beautiful beach framed by a wonderful promenade.  Each morning it would be full of people, walking and running to start the day.  I joined them.  Every day before breakfast, I would head out onto the promenade for the 1 ½ km walk each way.

The first morning, I had a problem.  I kept “bumping” into other people and spent much of my time pausing, stepping aside and apologizing.  It was a strange experience for me and certainly did not contribute to a pleasant walk.

And then it dawned on me.  I was having trouble walking more than 20 or 30 seconds without a near collision because I was trying to pass on my right while the oncoming people were trying to pass on their left.  As a result, we were both moving in the same direction to provide room for the other and ended up blocking each other’s path.  It turned out that they, like us in North America, tend to pass oncoming pedestrians in the same manner that they would pass an oncoming car.  Since Australians drive on the left, they were naturally trying to pass me the same way.

Our Expectations Were Different and it Sets Us on a Collision Course

Once I realized this, my walking experience changed completely (for the better).  I started passing on the left and things started to go smoothly.  I passed others with ease and the aggravating start/stop I had been experiencing disappeared.  I could spend more time admiring the view and appreciating the early morning sunshine.  And, of course, so could they.

Good Customer Service: One Size Does NOT Fit All

This proved to be an important lesson of good customer service delivery.  One size does not fit all.  Good customer service for one customer does not automatically equate to good customer service for another.  Each customer has certain expectations of how they will be treated and judge their experience on how well we meet or exceed those expectations.  It is important that we are sensitive to this and adjust our interactions accordingly.

For example, a customer who likes to engage in pleasant conversation may appreciate chatting about last night’s game or handling a question or two about the picture on the wall behind their desk.  Others may be entirely business focused and see such conversations as a waste of time – time they are paying for.  But even the conversational customer will not appreciate personal conversations in the middle of an emergency or when they are running late for another appointment.

Start By Identifying the Customers’ Expectations

So, the lesson learned is simply this:  each customer has different expectations of what good customer service is, and we would be wise to be sensitive to this and adjust how we interact with them accordingly.  The challenge for us as service providers is to learn what those expectations are for each customer.  That is a discussion for another blog.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim Baston

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If you are encouraging your technicians to take proactive steps to recommend your products and services to your customers, you may be looking for ways to help them to explore for opportunities to help.  Here are four simple steps that your technicians can take to uncover opportunities to help your customers to be better off.

1. Ask a simple question.

At the beginning or end of each maintenance service call, get your technicians in the habit of asking, “Is there anything else that we can do for you today?”  This simple question will often result in new opportunities that otherwise might go to someone else or go unfilled.

Other questions you may wish your techs to ask include, “Have there been any changes in the building/process/operations since the last time I was here?” or “Have there been any issues or concerns related to the building/process/operations since last time?”

2. Take the customer on a tour of their own facilities.

This approach was shared with me by a seasoned HVAC technician who regularly took his customers on tours.  He used it as an opportunity to showcase the work he was doing, point out equipment that was not under contract and suggest new ideas to make improvements.  His customers appreciated the opportunity to learn more about their systems and he used the time to learn more about the customers’ goals and objectives.

3. Follow up on previously quoted work.

No doubt you have several proposals that have been sent to customers that have not had any follow up.  To the best of your knowledge, no action has been taken by the customer, but you are not certain of the status.  In many cases, it will be because the customer has forgotten about them.

Encourage your technicians to speak to the customer about those outstanding proposals.  The customer will appreciate their interest and they will thank the technician if their follow-up prevented something from falling though the cracks.

4. Offer to demonstrate a new technology or software.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and it is almost impossible for our customers to keep on top of what is going on.  When there is a technology or software that you offer that can help customers get a competitive edge, then you will be providing a valuable service bringing it to your customer’s attention.

By taking the initiative to proactively explore for opportunities to help your customers to be better off, not only will you generate more revenues, but your technicians will actually be delivering a higher level of service.  Your customers will appreciate the added attention and see great value as you help them achieve their business goals.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim Baston

“I learned that you don’t get anywhere by sitting comfortably in a chair.”

 – Conrad Hilton

The post Four Simple Steps Technicians Can Take to Uncover Opportunities appeared first on jimbaston.com.

Your field service team can add tremendous value to your service relationships when they recommend products and services that you can provide that will help your customers be better off.  They are in a unique position to do this; they have the knowledge of the technology, an inside understanding of your customer’s current processes and equipment and, hopefully an appreciation of your customer’s goals and objectives.  They also have proximity to the customer.  The question is however, if you engage your technicians in promoting your services, do you tell your customers?

Do You Tell Your Customers?

I recently spoke at the Field Service Forum in Amsterdam.  I asked how many of the attendees either formally or informally encouraged their technicians to proactively recommend their services to their customers.  About 60% of the room raised their hands.  I then asked how many of those who raised their hands told their customers that they were engaging their technicians in this way and not a single person responded that they did.  This is entirely consistent with other discussions that I have had.

How about you?  Do you tell your customers?  Do you tell them that you are encouraging your technicians to look for products and services to recommend to them?  If you are not, you are missing out on an important opportunity.

Why Not?

Let’s examine one of the reasons why we seem so hesitant to let our customers know about the promotion of products and services by our technicians.  I believe that underlying our reluctance is that we tend to see the actions of our technicians as a “selling” activity.  And, it’s hard to promote “selling” as a benefit to our customers.

Where is the value for the customer in a conversation that goes like this?  “Mr./Mrs. Customer, I want you to know that we have encouraged our technicians to look for opportunities for us to sell you more services so that we can increase the revenues we receive from you.”  It’s hard to see any value in this statement, regardless of how noble our intentions or those of our field service team are.

Remember, It is a Service

The key is to keep in mind that we want our technicians to use their expertise and proximity to look for opportunities to help the customer and raise these with the customer when they find them.  This is valuable because the actions of our technicians can truly help our customers to be better off and to achieve their business goals.  Their recommendations therefore, are a service.

Yes, as service providers, we do benefit from this proactive activity through increased service revenues, but those revenues are our reward in return for the value of the service that we provide.  By regarding the proactive activities of our technicians through a service lens, it becomes easier to promote their activities just like we would any other service that we provide.

Have this Conversation with your Customers

An excellent way to promote the proactive actions of our technicians is to have this conversation with our customers.  “Mr./Mrs. Customer, we have provided direction and training to our technicians to encourage them to look for opportunities to help you operate your facility/processes more effectively while they are performing the service.  Would you have any objection when they find something that will help you achieve your business goals, if they bring the opportunity to your attention?”

By explaining the actions of our technicians in this way, we are able to communicate the value of their efforts for the customer.

If you formally or informally engage your technicians in business development activities, I encourage you to tell your customers – and let them know why it is of value for them.

Promote their efforts to your customers as a point of difference.  Let them know that you are providing your “heads” as well as your “hands”.  When they recognize the value of these efforts and benefit from the resulting recommendations, they will be delighted that you have engaged your technicians in this way.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim Baston

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

– Woodrow Wilson

The post Do You Tell Your Customers? appeared first on jimbaston.com.

click to enlarge

I’m often asked how to enthusiastically engage technicians in business promotion to create a service experience like the one I describe in my book, Beyond GREAT SERVICE, The Technician’s Role in Proactive Business Growth. In answer to this question, here is a summary of the 5 Steps to a service experience that is beyond great.

Critical to our success is the recognition by technician and management alike, that business promotion is an important part of the service delivery and not a sale. They must appreciate that when we take proactive steps to make these recommendations that will help our customers to be better off we greatly enhance the service value and the service experience. With the intention of promoting our services to help our customers, this proactive approach will become a significant differentiator in a competitive environment where service providers must fight for every dollar and fight for the right to hold, maintain and develop customer relationships.

With this in mind, here are the 5 steps that you can take to deliver a service experience that is beyond great.

Step 1: Assess your Current Position Against Best Practices. An honest review of your service delivery against the critical success factors behind delivering a “beyond great” service allows you to access your current position, recognize your strengths and take action to capitalize on opportunities for improvement. Here is a link to a handy assessment tool to make this evaluation.

Step 2: Define the Service Experience you want your Customers to Enjoy. A clear vision of the service you will deliver through the proactive promotional efforts of your technicians provides the foundation for good planning and execution of the plan. While Step 1 gives you your current position, Step 2 gives you where you want to go and enables you to create your unique roadmap to success. A clear vision also helps you communicate the value behind the initiative to engage your technicians, company stakeholders and, of course, your customers. To explore how to define the service experience, check out this blog.

Step 3: Train to Win. You would never think of sending your technicians out to work on equipment for which they have had no training. If product or service promotion is part of the service our technicians provide, why would we treat this service any differently? Through training, we have an opportunity to:

• Help our field team recognize their role as a service so that they enthusiastically embrace it
• Clearly define the service experience that will be delivered by our technicians to add value to our service relationships and create a sustainable competitive advantage
• Add to their skills so that they can be more successful in helping customers recognize the value in their recommendations

Here is a link to our Proactive Service® Workshop.

Step 4: Ensure Processes and Systems Support the Proactive Efforts of your Technicians. Like any service, you will want to ensure that you have the processes and systems in place to ensure flawless execution of the strategy. This includes how opportunities will be captured, how they will be followed up, how status will be communicated and how the technicians will contribute to the solution.

Keep in mind that our processes and systems is one of several hurdles that you will need to address to unleash the full power of your team. For more details on typical hurdles to success and how to deal with them, download this article.

Step 5: Maintain Momentum. Once the plan, processes and training are in place, our continued success will hinge on our willingness and ability to maintain momentum. We must consider such factors as:

• How will we maintain the levels of enthusiasm we have been able to generate to date?
• What options can we take to keep the initiative fresh in everyone’s mind?
• What opportunities can we capitalize on to observe and coach our field service teams?
• What plan do we have to review key skills?
• What steps will we take to practice these skills to ensure that we deliver a service that is beyond great?

Delivering a service that is beyond great is not easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it today. The benefits, however, are well worth the effort. If you can successfully engage your field service team in proactive promotion of your services as part of the service that they provide, you can expect:

• Increased revenue and profitability
• Improved customer satisfaction and retention
• More customer referrals
• Increased employee satisfaction and reduced turnover
• Better labour planning
• A more enjoyable and less stressful working environment for all

If you have not yet started on the journey, why not take the first step? I would be delighted to hear from you.

As always I welcome your questions and your feedback. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim Baston

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

– Lao Tzu

The post 5 Steps to a Service Experience that is Beyond Great appeared first on jimbaston.com.

During our workshops, we discuss the importance of the quality of the written word and how it helps the customer recognize the value that we provide in the work performed. This easy acronym – I-CARE –highlights the 5 steps to create work orders that shout “value”.

When I have the opportunity to speak with service managers, one of the discussion points that inevitably comes up is about the quality of the work order summaries written by their service technicians. It seems that in many organizations, the quality of the written summaries of work is all over the map – from very poor to excellent. When I ask if they have clear and simple guidelines to help their busy technicians to consistently write well, they often admit that those guidelines are still on the “to do” list.

The quality of the written work order summary is important for a number of reasons. One reason is that the customer relies on the summary to give them a sense of the quality of the work that was performed. Because of the nature of our work, it is unlikely that our customers will be able to objectively assess the quality themselves. A clear, concise and comprehensive summary will communicate more value than a simple “fixed unit” on the report. Another reason for complete and concise reports is that the report may become an important document if there is ever a dispute about what work was actually performed. Yet another reason is that a complete and concise report will save time in the long run. Think of your own organization. How many times has the technician had to be interrupted in the field to answer a question about the work performed that could have been prevented if the work order summary description was more complete?

To help you address this problem, I suggest that you introduce the I-CARE approach with your team. It is a simple, easy to remember acronym that will help your technicians write work order summaries that will communicate the value of their work.

Add your own example to provide context. You may also wish to remind your technicians to:

• Remember that everything they write on the work order goes to the customer so spelling and grammar are important
• Include all materials and relevant consumables
• Omit obvious facts (e.g. “drove to the work site”)
• Refrain from language that may create doubt in the customers mind (e.g. “seems to be working”)

Perhaps the most important question of all is to ask your team to imagine that they are the customer who will receive the invoice that will follow. Based on the quality of the work order summary, how comfortable do they feel about paying the bill?

I hope you find this helpful. If you want to see other suggestions to improve the customer experience for your customers, send me a quick note and I will be happy to send you a copy of our Pocketbook of Proactive Service®, which includes I-CARE and several other ideas for improving the service experience for your customers.

As always I welcome your questions and your feedback. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim Baston

“The difference between the right word and the almost
right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

– Mark Twain

The post I-CARE – 5 Steps to Work Orders that Shout “Value” appeared first on jimbaston.com.

When it comes to engaging technicians in promoting services, many service managers see the role of selling as different from the role of service. They often describe selling and service as distinct and almost unrelated activities. With this view, when someone is selling they are not serving and when someone is serving they are not selling. The chart below illustrates this view of the relationship between selling and service activities.

The Distinct Activities of Selling and Serving

In the chart, we have reduced the activities that a salesperson and/or a technician perform to simply selling or serving. Obviously they do more than those activities in their daily work, but let’s make this assumption to simplify the point being made.

The vertical column of the chart represents a measure of the percent of time spent in an activity (in this case either “service” or “selling”) from 0% to 100%. Since we are only considering these two activities, then the total of the time selling and the time servicing must equal 100%. The horizontal axis represents the percentage of time spent in each activity. As we move across the axis, more time is spent in selling activities from nearly 0% in the “Pure Service” situation to nearly 100% in the “Pure Selling” situation. Note that in the position marked “Pure Service” there is still a small amount of selling taking place. This represents the technician’s time spent with the customer explaining the situation and recommending specific repairs. Likewise, note that at the position of “Pure Selling” there is a small percentage of time allocated to service.

When our perspective is that selling is an activity separate from serving then, if we want our technician to spend more time promoting our services, we must move the technician from “Pure Service” along the horizontal axis towards the position of “Pure Selling”. We would not contemplate moving our technicians all the way to the right – we do not want to turn our technicians into salespeople – but a little more to the right as depicted by the red arrow would be beneficial.

But this view may just be what is limiting performance and results. When we think of service as a distinct activity and look to “move our technicians towards the right” on our chart, we tend to see selling as an activity that is an “add on” to what our technicians are doing now (service) and not part of the service itself. This can result in a “while you’re there” perspective as in, “While you’re there, keep your eyes open for other things that we can sell to the customer.” It is this viewpoint that can limit the potential of our initiative and may even erode the relationship with the customer.

This perspective is limiting because it perceives selling as a tactic to be performed to win more business rather than as a service to deliver a more valuable service outcome and experience. With this perspective, our focus and attention is directed to how the customer can serve our needs rather than how we serve the needs of the customer and this will subsequently obscure much larger opportunities to integrate the promotion of our services into a differentiated service offering that is valued by our customers.

In my next blog, we will look more closely at the reasons why this perspective may be hindering our success and how a change in perspective will result in breakthrough thinking.

I welcome your feedback. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?”

– Woody Allen

The post Want your Technicians More Proactive in Promoting your Services? Your Perspective May be Getting in the Way appeared first on jimbaston.com.

One customer told me it was lucky that he was still a customer at all. He told me of an incident that happened a few years previously that caused him some personal embarrassment and had him literally concerned for his own job. Apparently, after a routine maintenance call, the technician informed the customer that they had a problem with a specific piece of equipment. It was showing signs of failure and that it should be replaced. The technician duly included this in the service order summary which the customer signed.

Several months passed and the equipment issue was not addressed. And then one day the equipment failed. The failure caused several days of business disruption and incurred a costly emergency repair. The customer called the President of the service company to complain only to find out that he had indeed been informed.  The President went on to tell him the exact date that the conversation took place and the fact that the customer had even signed the work order that included the equipment failure warning in the summary. “I felt terrible”, said this customer. “I had obviously forgotten about the recommendation. I sheepishly hung up the phone … and that’s when I really started to get angry”.

What made him angry was the fact that the same technician was back at his office to do routine maintenance at least two or three times between the initial recommendation and the failure. “Not once in all those times did the technician remind me of this looming problem. Had he only mentioned this to me, it all could have been avoided”.

Which brings me to the cup of coffee… Taking the time to grab a cup of coffee with a client might give your technicians an opportunity to review outstanding recommendations and avoid disaster.  It might even mean more business and improve customer satisfaction and retention. This is one of the subjects we address in our Proactive Service® workshop.  Each time, several technicians invariably nod their heads and admit that a similar thing has happened to them (or a colleague).

Has this happened to your technicians? Perhaps it’s time for some coaching. I welcome your feedback. You can connect with me via telephone or email or leave a comment right here on the site. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.”

– Earl Wilson

The post Technician Service Challenges – How to Keep a Customer appeared first on jimbaston.com.

1. “Do our technicians bring you ideas that help you operate more effectively?”
2. “Do you feel that you are better off for having known us?”

If you are interested in tracking your progress over time or compare branch operations for these questions, for example, I would like to suggest a scoring key that will help you. In his article in the Harvard Business Review, “The One Number You Need to Grow”¹ , Frederick Reichheld introduces us to his research into the one question that he found was a good predictor of customer loyalty and growth. The question was “How likely would you recommend [company X] to a friend or colleague?”  He introduces a scoring key that provides a “net promoter” score.   The “net promoter” component comes from the fact that Reichheld’s scoring key considers not only the percentage of responders who rated the company highly (promoters) and who would likely promote the company (i.e. recommend to friends and colleagues), but also the percentage of responders who would rate the company poorly and likely speak negatively about their experience (detractors). By subtracting the percentage of “detractors” from the percentage of “promoters”, Reichheld ends up with a “net promoter score” that can be compared from branch to branch, period to period, etc.

The scoring key works like this. Respondents apply the score that best represents their view of the service provided on a rating scale of 1 to 10 (with “10” being high). Scores of “9” or “10” are considered “promoters”. Scores of “6” or lower are considered “detractors”. Reichheld subtracts the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. (Note that those respondents that score a “7” or “8” are not included in the calculation since it is believed that they do not have strong enough feelings to either promote or detract).

Here is an example of how to calculate the net promoter score:

• Percentage of respondents who gave scores of “9” or “10” = 45%
• Percentage of respondents who gave scores of “6” or less = 20%
• Net promoter score = 45% – 20% = 25%.

You can improve your score by increasing the percentage of respondents with “9” or “10”, decreasing the percentage of respondents with “6” or less or a combination of both. It is this “net promoter score” that can then be used to measure how the business is performing at a specific point in time and enable you to compare the score to other time periods or other branches, etc.

My point here is that this scoring key can be useful to apply to these two questions about the quality of the Proactive Service® experience you are providing. It will clearly identify the percentage of respondents who will speak positively about you and potentially become “ambassadors” for your company as well as the percentage of those who will speak negatively about you. This helps you focus on both ends of the satisfaction spectrum and focus on minimizing the percentage of “detractors” while maximizing the percentage of “promoters”.

You may also want to check out Reichheld’s article and include his question in your customer satisfaction surveys.

I’d love your feedback! And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.”

– Galileo Galilei

________________________

¹“The One Number You Need to Grow”, Frederick F. Reichheld, Harvard Business Review, December 2003.

The post How is Your Business Really Doing? – Part 2 appeared first on jimbaston.com.

“Are your customers better off having known you?”

As managers, we have an important role to play here.  Our technicians must understand that this is an integral part of their role.   They must recognize that these proactive conversations that they have with their customers represent a valuable and important service – as important as fixing and maintaining the customer’s equipment.  We must ensure that the processes, systems and expectations of all customer-facing personnel support the technicians’ efforts.  We must be prepared to provide training on the necessary skills for our technicians to be successful and coach on and support those skills regularly.  And, we must maintain focus on this initiative consistently, month after month and take every opportunity to do so through toolbox, safety and other service related meetings.

If we take these steps both our technicians and ourselves will be able to answer “Yes” to the question, “Are our customers better off for having known us?”.  And, most importantly, our customers will appreciate and reward our efforts with their business and their referrals to others.

I’d love your feedback on this. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“Improvement begins with I.”

– Arnold H. Glasow

The post Are your Customers Better off Having Known you? appeared first on jimbaston.com.

I woke up this morning to a problem.  I could not send or receive emails from my smart phone.  It seems that they were wiped out over the weekend when I was dealing with a completely unrelated problem.  To set them up, I needed to know my user name and password.  The ones I thought were correct turned out to be incorrect.  Each time I tried it, the counter on my smartphone told me that I had only 6 tries left, then 5 tries, then 4.

On a normal day, this would be an inconvenience but this morning it was catastrophic (at least for me).  It was 4:45 am and I was rushing to get to the airport for an early morning flight.  We had a snowstorm overnight leaving the roads a mess and easily doubling the travel time.  I would be away for a few days and my cell phone was my only link to my business during the day.  I had to get this problem fixed quickly.  I could feel the stress.

I called the carrier without much hope of getting anyone live at that time in the morning and, to my relief, I got through to a customer service representative.  I explained the problem I was experiencing and he pointed out that I did not have an account and I would need to set one up.  He explained how to go about it, gave me some helpful advice on selecting a User I.D., and waited on the phone while I completed the instructions. He then happily continued to stay on the line while I set up my emails, although he certainly did not have to.  When I told him I appreciated his support he replied that he knew I was anxious about the situation and he wanted to ensure that everything went smoothly and should there be a glitch, he would be there to help me out.

Now, in the scheme of things, I guess you could say that the customer service representative was just doing his job.  And maybe, he had nothing better to do at that time in the morning – I don’t suppose he would have been run off his feet.  However, the willingness to stay on the line and guide me through the steps until everything was working the way I needed it was the best thing he could have done for me this morning.  It showed that he was sensitive to my situation (please read this prior blog post on empathy) and he provided the level of support he felt would suit my needs in the circumstances.

It seems to me that this is something exceptional field service technicians do as a matter of course.  They stay around a few extra minutes to ensure that the problem that was repaired was done so correctly.  They follow-up on recent work to make certain the customer is happy.  They understand and show empathy for the customer’s situation by acting in a way that best suits the customer’s needs given the circumstances.  This isn’t much, but technicians who practice these small extra steps, certainly stand out from their peers.  And, so do the companies they represent.

I’d love your feedback. And as always, please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog if you have one via the commentluv feature here on the site. If you are reading this blog post via email, you will need to locate this post on my website by clicking here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will find the comment section.

Jim

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

– Muhammad Ali

The post How Service Providers Can Stand out from the Crowd appeared first on jimbaston.com.