April 2010
April 2010 Newsletter - What’s Inside
• Essential Customer Service Skills
• Nonprofit Leadership Institute
• The Influence of “Filters” on Excellent Customer Service
Essential Customer Service Skills
If you follow our newsletter (which we keep brief but relevant in honor of your time), you know that we recently experienced a reduction in force and faced all the cultural and business model changes a RIF creates. One of the issues we are passionate about is maintaining our high level of customer and client service. You may be facing the same thing: maintaining great relationships on a reduced budget and possibly with fewer staff members. Even if everything is the same as it always was in your organization, you’ll find the Align “Top Ten” list of customer service skills helpful. (Feel free to insert “donor” where you read “customer” – the principles are the same.)
- 1. Having a customer friendly attitude: that is, understanding that your customers (both external and internal) are the most important part of your job
- 2. Giving a customer your complete and undivided attention
- 3. Making eye contact with your customer and using appropriate body language: for the circumstance
- 4. Using appropriate social etiquette and vocal inflections to show interest: that is, (1) greet – e.g. Good afternoon and (2) offer assistance – e.g. How can I help you today?
- 5. Using appropriate language: that is, stay away from technical language above your customer’s head, and certainly don’t talk down to them
- 6. Listening to what the customer is saying: rather than jumping to conclusions about what you think he/she might be saying
- 7. Offering alternatives or options: that is, options that either exceed the customer’s request or are additional solutions when unable to help with the customer’s request
- 8. Sincerely apologizing when a mistake is made: regardless of who is at fault
- 9. Remaining calm when dealing with a difficult customer: regardless of who is at fault
- 10.Looking at customer feedback as an opportunity to improve service: both negative and positive feedback
Nonprofit Leadership Institute
Align’s Nonprofit Leadership Institute features a curriculum designed to build on your knowledge and take you to the next level of leadership. Our Institute is designed to build leadership and management skills for current and future generations of nonprofit leaders.
Now is the time to sign up for the April session that will cover Effective Strategic Planning in Cheyenne on April 9, 2010 and in Casper on April 23, 2010.
The Influence of “Filters” on Excellent Customer Service
Reading our Align Top Ten for great customer service almost certainly provided you validation of what you already know. It’s not rocket science; and it’s been discussed in depth for many years. Why, then, does it continue to be a hot topic? Why don’t we simply provide excellent service to each customer, client and donor we have the honor to encounter?
One word: filters. Each of us carries with us an unseen “cloud” of what we know, what we have experienced and what we believe to be true. (Imagine Pigpen in the “Peanuts” cartoons.) This cloud creates a filter that requires penetration each time we interact with another person. When the filter is too dense for penetration, it may cause us to fail to give the other person what he or she requires for an excellent outcome.
There are ways to overcome potentially adverse effects of our personal filters.
- Be aware of them. Filters are comprised of a variety of things. These include (but aren’t limited to) the culture in which we were raised (including the part of the world or country, our religion, our politics and our personal beliefs); our age; our gender; where we went to school and how many years of formal education we have attained; and how our employer talks to us about customer service. Take time to think about and even write down all the elements that make up your personal filter.
- Be aware that others have filters, too. While you can’t conduct every customer encounter by starting off making a list of each other’s filter elements, you can start every encounter knowing what yours are and knowing that the other person has them, too.
- Make a concerted effort to break through your filters. For example, if you believe that 12 years of formal education are all one needs, and your customer is a Ph.D., resist the urge to treat your customer as though she is over-educated.
- As they surface, make a concerted effort to break through your customer’s filters. Using the example in #3, imagine that for some reason, Dr. Whomever knows that you are a high school graduate. Given that the good doctor chose much more education, you can surmise that she has a filter that may be telling her you aren’t educated enough to help. Don’t get your hackles up. Stick to the principles of good customer service and find the right solution for the customer and your organization.
- Let someone else attend to those people that truly rub you wrong! There is honor in acknowledging your weaknesses. In our smaller rural communities, we know many of our customers in other settings than just as our customers. If your patience rubs thin quickly with certain individuals, let someone else from your organization attend to their needs. You can practice patience in some other, less critical setting.
Providing great customer service is a two-way communication. The service is not great until the customer says it is great. Preparing yourself to attend to your personal filters so that they don’t preclude meeting the customer’s needs will enhance the odds of a positive outcome for your customer and, hence, your organization.