![\"Unhappy](\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/grumpycustomer.jpg\")
\nRemember the days when people noticed good customer service, talked about it, and most importantly\u2014rewarded\u00a0\u00a0you for it? Happy customers would return and spread the word. <\/strong><\/p>\n In today\u2019s fast paced world however, people are so rushed moving to the next thing, or so distracted by their mobile devices, that good customer service is many times overlooked. Fortunately, there are several easy things you can do that will enhance your service and boost your business which your customers will actually notice. Best of all, they cost you nothing.<\/p>\n Be the voice of reason<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an insider secret I discovered when clients started bringing me in to assess and offer feedback on their call centres. You can generally tell within 10 seconds whether the service rep will calm the customer or irritate them. It\u2019s not what the employee says \u2013 it\u2019s the sound of their voice when they say it.<\/p>\n Employees who mumble, or add useless words (ya know, kinda, sorta, fer sure) garner less respect from customers than those who are more articulate. Conversely, when you lower your tone and enunciate \u2013 by crispening-up your consonants and rounding-out your vowels \u2013 you\u2019ll be perceived as more reasonable and intelligent. By watching your language you\u2019ll transition in the customer\u2019s mind from being merely a \u00a0clerk or order taker into becoming a trusted advisor.<\/p>\n Show-off your homework<\/strong><\/p>\n Today\u2019s customers are so busy trying to juggle the demands of work, home, family, finances, and errands, that they are amazed when someone goes to the trouble to do some homework and find out about them.<\/p>\n So, before a client meeting, spend a few minutes doing a web search on the customer and the company. Start the conversation with a few comments along the lines of, \u2018I read that you have\u2026\u2019 or, \u2018I noticed on your website\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n It\u2019s a wonderful way of demonstrating your intelligence while focusing on the customer. In the customer\u2019s mind that makes you brilliant.<\/p>\n Listen loudly<\/strong><\/p>\n Customers are impressed by your knowledge; not your product knowledge per se \u2013 that\u2019s taken for granted. Customers are more impressed by your knowledge of their unique individual needs.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s customers are assaulted by information coming at them: tweets, emails, sound bites, and micro-ads. That means you\u2019ll be noticed more if you if you\u2019re a good listener rather than a smooth talker. It\u2019s not enough to just listen to customer needs and then offer solutions.You need to be perceived as listening.<\/p>\n Fortunately, this is as easy as saying two words after your customer explains their needs, \u2018Sounds like…\u2019 Starting your comments with ‘sounds like’ forces you to paraphrase your understanding of their needs. It\u2019s also a great lead-in to expressing empathy, as in, \u2018It sounds like you\u2019ve had a frustrating time trying to fix this.\u2019 You\u2019ll be seen as someone who truly gets your customer. That\u2019s listening loudly. And customers do notice.<\/p>\n Make time shrink<\/strong><\/p>\n Imagine a customer or co-worker asks you to send them information that might normally be sent the next day. You could say: \u2018I won\u2019t be able to send it to you until tomorrow.\u2019 Or perhaps, \u2018I\u2019ll send it first thing in the morning.\u2019 Contrast those responses with: \u2018You\u2019ll receive it within 24 hours.\u2019 The 24 hour statement sounds like a stronger commitment because it\u2019s specific. And it sounds faster because you\u2019re talking hours\u00a0not days. By changing your wording you appear to make time shrink. Customers will take notice.<\/p>\n Close the loop<\/strong><\/p>\n In attempting to grow our business we are often so focused on gaining more customers that we neglect those we already have. Case in point is when we deliver a product or service without any follow-up.<\/p>\n Closing the loop can be as simple as leaving a 20 second voice mail message with the customer stating that you\u2019re making a courtesy check-in call to ensure that everything\u2019s OK with their purchase. Heck \u2013 forget 20 seconds \u2013 next time a co-worker sends you an email request, once you\u2019ve completed it, take five seconds and reply to their email with one word. \u2018Done\u2019. Again, you will be noticed.<\/p>\n These tips for getting noticed by customers and coworkers simply require a few adjustments to the way employees communicate. It isn\u2019t complicated.<\/p>\n About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeff Mowatt is a customer service strategist, Hall of Fame speaker, and bestselling author. This article is based on Jeff\u2019s bestselling book, Influence with Ease. You can obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire about engaging Jeff for your team at\u00a0www.jeffmowatt.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember the days when people noticed good customer service, talked about it, and most importantly\u2014rewarded\u00a0\u00a0you for it? Happy customers would return and spread the word..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337,"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\/20523"}],"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\/337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20523"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20531,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20523\/revisions\/20531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}