It happened to me recently on a flight from San Diego to Toronto.  I was running late for my 11:30 am flight – the only one of the day by that airline.  I ran up to the ticket counter.  I had checked in on-line and all I needed to do was drop my bag.  As I jogged up to the counter, I was relieved to see that there was only one person in front of me – a family checking in bags presumably for the same flight.

As I stood at the front of the line puffing, but otherwise quietly waiting my turn, the ticket agent looked up from her work and asked over the shoulders of the family she was serving, “Going to Toronto?”  “Yes, thanks,” I replied.  “If you’re checking that bag, you will have to go without it.  You’re six minutes past the cut-off time.”

My facial expression must have communicated the question that was formulating in my head because before I could say another word, she explained that the people she was currently checking through had arrived at the desk on time so she was able to process their bags even though it was past the arbitrary cut-off.

So, here I was in an airport, hoping to go home on the only flight that airline had that day, but unable to check my bag because of an arbitrary cut-off time.  And, to add insult to injury, the ticket agent was processing bags for the same flight, right before my eyes.  Apparently, the only reason she would not process me was not because she couldn’t, but that I was six minutes past the cut-off time.

By now the agent had finished processing the family and was able to dedicate full time to “helping” me.  “Is there nothing you can do for me?”  She shook her head.  “So what do I do?”  “Well, you can get rid of the bag and get on this flight or take the next one,” she replied.  “When is the next one?”  “Tomorrow, same time,” she replied.  I am sure she exhibited a small grin.  I was stuck and she knew it.

The next 20 minutes was a wild frenzy as I arranged to have my bag taken care of.  Fortunately, I had a business acquaintance who was staying an extra day at the conference and he willingly agreed to bring my bag back to Toronto.  I put my bag on a taxi bound for the hotel and headed back to the ticket counter.  As I reached the counter, the ticket agent greeted me with a smile and the same question she had for me 20 minutes earlier – “Going to Toronto?”

Argggh!  I understand that there are guidelines and that I was outside of them.  The agent was simply doing her job.  What annoyed me was her lack of the three critical components of dealing with a sticky situation.

Empathy – I had no feeling that the ticket agent had any concern for my welfare at all.  In fact, I think she enjoyed being in the position to be able to say “no”.

Creativity – She made no effort whatsoever to see if she could help me.  I am still convinced that she could have assisted me if she wanted to.  She could have made a quick phone call to see if they could make an exception in this case.  Even if the answer was still “no”, at least I would have felt she tried.

Common Sense – It is common sense not to inflame an already charged situation.  Pointing out that I was six minutes late, making off-hand comments about having to leave my bag behind and later asking me the second time if I was going to Toronto were not helpful and certainly did not endear me to the agent or the company she represented.

But I have to thank her.  There is a valuable lesson here.  This agent probably does a pretty good job of processing people through the airport when things are as they should be.  However, when things go out of the norm, she obviously does not have the skills or the knowledge to handle those exceptions effectively.

How about your customer facing staff?  Are they prepared to handle difficult situations?  Do they show empathy and use creativity and common sense to try to diffuse and ultimately correct the situation?  Or, do they act in a manner that sends your customers packing?

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

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”

– Zig Ziglar

The post When the Customer Service person says “I Can’t Help” appeared first on jimbaston.com.

Recall that the name RATER is an acronym with each letter representing the first letter of one of the five key dimensions of service quality.  They are:

R eliability: Our ability to provide what is promised, dependably and accurately

A ssurance: Our knowledge and courtesy, and our ability to convey trust and confidence

T angibles:  Our physical facilities and equipment, and our appearance

E mpathy: The degree of caring and individual attention we provide to customers

R esponsiveness: Our willingness to help customers and provide prompt service

Empathy, in the RATER model, is defined as the degree of caring and individual attention that we provide our customers.  I assume that, if you are reading this, you truly care about your customers and about their needs and goals.  However, despite our good intentions, our customers may not feel that we do.  We may feel one way, but be doing things that suggest something else.

Empathy is another case where perception truly is reality.  Our customers will pick up clues about how much we care by the simple interactions that take place between them and our company.  Every interaction needs to consistently reinforce our empathy for the customer.

As you ponder this dimension of the RATER model, here are some questions to consider:

• How does your staff answer the phone?
  • Do they sound like they are happy to receive the call or do they sound more like they have just been interrupted?
  • Do they put people on hold and forget them?
  • Do they pass customers off to others without ensuring that the call has gone through?
  • How well does your field staff consider the needs of the customer?  For example:
    • Do they park in the “visitors” spaces without first establishing that this is acceptable?
    • Are they polite to everyone?
    • Do they respect the customer’s property?
    • Do they:
      • Clean up after themselves?
      • Cover desks and office equipment with plastic if they are disturbing the ceiling tiles?
      • Check in and check out?
      • Ask if there is anything else that needs doing?
      • Etc.
• Do they explain the work that has been done?
• Do they treat the customer’s property with evident respect?
• Do they take the time to understand the customer’s needs and goals so that they can make recommendations to help them achieve them?
• How does your staff deal with questions or issues that are outside of their responsibility?
  • Do they say it is “not my job”?
  • Do they try to find a solution and “stay” with the customer until they do?

Various studies have indicated that the reason most customers give for leaving a business and going their competitor is because they experienced indifferent customer service – in excess of 65% of the time.  I find it hard to believe that most companies truly don’t care about their customers, but I do believe it is true that most companies don’t communicate that they do by their actions.

How about you? How is your company doing with respect to empathy for your client base?  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.

Next time, we will wrap up by considering the second R of RATER – Responsiveness.

Jim

“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

– Zig Ziglar

The post Transform the Service Experience through Empathy appeared first on jimbaston.com.