Considering how much time, money and effort companies spend
on customer service training; we’re never really taught to become better
customers ourselves.
Because in most of the day’s transactions, we’re the
customers – not the servers.
And if we truly want to have a joyful, remarkable
experience, we can’t just sit back and wait for people to read our minds and
make us happy. We have to help them help us. As guests, patients, viewers,
clients, patrons, members, visitors, users, callers, listeners and customers,
we have to make ourselves more servable.
Otherwise we’re equally at fault for not getting what we
want, the way we want it.
It starts with expectational clarity. Sharing what’s
important to us. Letting people in on our preferences. And delivering a vision
of what happiness looks like.
Take a massage studio. If we don’t want the therapist yapping
our ear off during the entire session, we need to speak up and let her know
that silence is essential to our relaxation. Otherwise we end up getting mad at
her for being chatty and ruining the experience, when all we had to do was take
two seconds to say, “Oh, and I prefer to keep quiet most of the time.”
Being a better customer also has to with vocalizing
dissatisfaction. Letting those who serve us know that we’re not happy with the
exchange. Unfortunately, this is harder than it sounds because, as humans, we
dread confrontation. We avoid conflict. And we don’t want to be difficult.
We’d rather suck it up and eat the overcooked steak instead
of making a fuss, sending it back and risk being the topic of conversation in
the kitchen.
Because nobody wants
to be the freak at the table.
The problem is, this kind of passivity hurts both parties.
It hurts the server because he misses out on valuable
feedback from his customer. Our silence robs of the opportunity to create a
service moment and a story worth repeating.
But it also hurts us. It reduces our experience. We get
annoyed that an employee missed the mark, and we selfishly assume it’s because
he’s an incompetent dolt who doesn’t listen to his customers.
When in reality, the real reason we’re so unhappy is because
we made that employee do unnecessary guesswork.
We never helped them
help us.
We just sat there, winking in the dark, hoping they would read our minds.
And unless we’re getting our palm read, that’s
not the smartest path to happiness.
________________________________________________________________
Scott Ginsberg is the
World Record Holder of Wearing Nametags. He's the author of thirteen books, an
award-winning blogger, professional speaker and creator of NametagTV.com. He
specializes in approachability, identity and execution, and for more info about
books, speaking engagements, strategic planning crusades or to rent Scott's
brain for a one-on-one session, email scott@hellomynameisscott.com.
