{"id":11931,"date":"2017-10-26T16:13:16","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T16:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/?p=11931"},"modified":"2017-10-27T18:22:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T18:22:58","slug":"customer-service-tip-the-power-of-observation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/customer-service-tip-the-power-of-observation\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Service Tip: The Power of Observation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it\u2019s what a customer doesn\u2019t do or doesn\u2019t say that gives you the opportunity to create an amazing customer service experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Smiling\n

I was out to lunch with a colleague at one of our local St. Louis restaurants. Rico was our waiter and was taking great care of us. First came the bread and butter. He then took our drink order. He came back with our drinks and asked if we were ready to order lunch. We were. My friend ordered a Caesar salad with chicken.<\/p>\n

Rico asked my friend if he wanted the croutons left off the salad. My friend was surprised by the question and responded, \u201cYes. How did you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

And, I wondered the same thing. How did Rico know? It turns out the answer was simple. He was very observant. He noticed that my friend hadn\u2019t touched the bread and butter. He assumed, and correctly so, that my friend was staying away from bread. And just to make sure, he asked.<\/p>\n

We were both impressed and noticed that Rico paid very close attention to everything that was said or implied. He watched our body language for clues to determine when he should come by and check on us, when we were finished with our meals, and when we were ready to pay the check.<\/p>\n

Rico\u2019s observation skills were a ten out of ten. He was flawless.<\/p>\n

Not long after this lunch, I had the opposite experience. My wife and I were at a restaurant. I asked for a suggestion about what to order. The server asked me if there was anything I especially liked or disliked. I responded with a smile and said, \u201cMost everything on the menu looks good, but I hate mushrooms.\u201d He recommended a chicken dish with an Italian sauce. Just a few minutes later, the dinners were served and my chicken was covered with mushrooms. I could tell that he was uncomfortable. He apologized and said it was his fault.<\/p>\n

Yes, it was his fault. Apparently, he didn\u2019t listen. He asked a good question but didn\u2019t pay attention to an important part of my answer. And, if he had and it was a mistake in the kitchen, once he saw the dish coming out of the kitchen, covered with mushrooms, he should have intercepted it before it was put on the table.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s what a customer doesn\u2019t do or doesn\u2019t say that gives you the opportunity to create an amazing customer service experience. Sometimes it\u2019s a subtle reaction. It may be a facial expression or a pause or hesitation. It can be almost invisible, but if you\u2019re paying close enough attention, you\u2019ll notice it. And, you can take advantage of this moment to deliver a better service experience.<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shep Hyken<\/a>\u00a0is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. As a professional speaker and best-selling author, Shep helps companies develop loyal relationships with their customers and employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it\u2019s what a customer doesn\u2019t do or doesn\u2019t say that gives you the opportunity to create an amazing customer service experience..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11931"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11980,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11931\/revisions\/11980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}