{"id":11727,"date":"2017-09-04T17:05:45","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T17:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/?p=11727"},"modified":"2017-09-28T15:50:57","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T15:50:57","slug":"leap-to-solve-customer-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/leap-to-solve-customer-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"LEAP to Solve Customer Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Use the LEAP method to solve any issue and defuse even the most irate of customers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\"LEAP\n

There\u2019s an old adage in customer service that has proven consistently true over the years\u2014whether you\u2019re product is apples, airplanes or alligators, customers always call for one reason; they have a problem.<\/p>\n

No matter how good your company, your product or your people are, customers don\u2019t call to tell you that. They call you (or email or chat or come into your office) because they have a problem that needs solving. Far too often, these support requests don\u2019t get solved and the customer leaves dissatisfied.<\/p>\n

Many years ago I was tasked with building the customer support department for an emerging ISP start-up. The company had an office location in every market staffed with a customer service representative. Often, customers with a service or billing issue would skip calling the 800 number and just walk into the office to find an answer. In some cases, they were irate and many times abusive to the staff. We were churning support representatives as they quickly burned out from the stress of dealing with upset customers without a strategy on how to help them. We needed to develop a framework our support team and do it fast. The need was comprehensive, whether for the market place or on the phone, we needed a strategy that could be used to consistently defuse a situation in a quick and effective manner.<\/p>\n

We spent time observing agents in the market-place and listening to countless hours of phone calls to identity what went wrong. What caused a situation to escalate and result in a customer to becoming upset? Why were our agents not solving the actual issue often enough that it led to repeat calls and dissatisfied customers? Could we create a consistent method for helping the customer regardless of the issues?<\/p>\n

What we discovered was that our agents were making the same mistakes repeatedly. Whether they were in market and dealing with customers face to face or on the phone, a few small, simple mistakes were creating the majority of issues we were seeing. This discovery led to the creation of a simple method of responding to any customer request regardless of channel.<\/p>\n

The LEAP method consists of four basic steps. Obviously, any one of these could be more or less complex or time-consuming depending on the situation but the basic process remains the same:<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> – The most important and most frequently ignored first step is to simply listen to the customer. The key is not to listen in order to respond, but to listen to understand. Walk into any call center anywhere and just observe agents on the phone. How often do you see an agent \u201clistening\u201d to the customer explain their issue while they simultaneously finish their notes from the last call, attempt to pull up the customer record, search the knowledge base to begin troubleshooting the issue or doing any one of 1000 other things that distract their attention from the one task they should be concentrating on the most: listening to the customer explain their issue. Take a minute or two and simply stop and listen to the customer. That goes a long way toward solving the problem.<\/p>\n

Empathize<\/strong> – A frequent mistake people make is to think that empathizing means apologizing. It\u2019s a subtle difference but it can be key in helping customers feel heard and understood. While apologizing is simply expressing regret or remorse that something negative happened, empathizing is showing that you understand the feelings caused by what happened. That difference is huge in helping a customer, especially an irate one. It may seem small but the difference between, \u201cI\u2019m sorry your plans changed\u201d and \u201cI know how frustrating it can be when your plans change,\u201d is enormous. Empathizing creates a bond between the agent and the customer that shows they\u2019re both in it together.<\/p>\n

Acknowledge the problem<\/strong> – Often, the reason a customer gives for calling is not the problem. It can sometimes be a symptom of the problem. In other cases, the customer may call with several related issues or may not even be fully sure of the problem. Acknowledging the problem serves two purposes; 1) It clarifies exactly what the issue is before attempting to solve it and 2) It lets the customer know both they and the agent are on the same page and working together to solve the issue. It can be as simple as \u201cIf I understand you correctly, you have a refundable ticket and you want to cancel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Provide a solution<\/strong> – The worst thing an agent can say in any customer service encounter is \u201cthere\u2019s nothing I can do.\u201d There is always something they can do. It may not be the solution that the customer wants but there is a solution to the problem. That is the key. Find a solution for the customer\u2019s problem and offer it to show that while their specific request may not be possible, you’re working together in this to find a solution to their issue. Case study after case study have shown the number one driver of customer dissatisfaction is not issues with the agent themselves. The one factor that causes customers to be most dissatisfied more than any other is lack of resolution. Offering a solution to the customer, even if it\u2019s not what they may have originally wanted goes along way toward creating that satisfied customer.<\/p>\n

Imagine a scenario where your agents are handling customer service calls for an airline when a customer calls in. They tell the agent that their plans have changed and they need to cancel a non-refundable ticket. This is a situation with the potential to escalate and become irate very quickly. By utilizing the LEAP method, the situation can be defused and the customer left, if not happy, at least satisfied. Consider the difference between two responses:<\/p>\n