The customer experience you provide is nothing less than delivering on the promise your company has made to the market. Every company makes some claim. In the business-to-business market, most vendors claim to make customers more efficient, more effective, or more profitable in some way. The unspoken promise is that buying your company’s product or service will improve your customer’s business.
Of the tiny business population who can truly claim customer service superiority, one thing is certain: Every employee owns a piece of that prize. Simply put, a company cannot achieve customer service excellence without first attaining high levels of efficiency, quality, and productivity among its internal service providers.
When it comes to overcoming customer dissatisfaction you can play a dominant role in taking the dis out of dissatisfaction. You may not be able to control what the customer says or does, but you can control your own response. Your tone of voice, attitude, empathy, and communication skills play a major role in overcoming the customer’s dissatisfaction—and in preventing a potentially disastrous situation.
I’m inspired. I want to be a HERO, but not just any kind of hero. I want to be a Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operative.
I learned about this cool designation from a Harvard Business Review article (July/August 2010) by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler entitled "Empowered". In the article the authors described the way employees at companies like Best Buy, Black & Decker, and E*Trade have proactively taken the initiative to use readily available technology to do things like improve internal training, avert customer service problems, and strengthen their brands.
