At a latest customer support presentation, the speaker who preceded me stated that we should do higher than merely assembly our prospects’ expectations, and he shared some tales of actually superb service experiences. Then it was my flip to talk. I didn’t need to contradict him, however I wanted the viewers to know that it’s not possible to go above and past with prospects at each interplay. Generally assembly expectations is an ideal expertise.
In my customer support keynote speeches, I speak about Managing the Second. The concept comes from Jan Carlson, and when you’ve been following me, you’ll acknowledge this idea. Each interplay prospects have with you or your organization provides them the chance to type an impression. Understanding this straightforward thought is an effective begin to growing and/or sustaining your customer support and CX technique.
I consider you need to handle expectations, and in case you are even the tiniest bit above common in doing what prospects anticipate, your prospects will love you, provide you with excessive rankings, and refer you to their colleagues and pals. The important thing to being profitable with this concept is to be constant. You need prospects to say issues like, “They at all times are educated,” or “They’re at all times so useful.” The phrase at all times adopted by one thing optimistic, sometimes an expectation is what you’re going for.
So again to the concept of simply assembly expectations. Some folks confuse expectations with hope. Right here’s what I imply by this. If I name somebody for assist and go away a message, I anticipate them to name me again, and I hope they may return the decision sooner relatively than later.
Let’s say I’m referred to as again inside an hour. I’m pleasantly stunned as a result of the particular person met my expectation of the callback and did it within the timeframe I hoped they might – perhaps even somewhat sooner.
Most prospects received’t analyze the expertise fairly this manner, however it’s precisely what they need – or hope for. They’ll, nonetheless, discover that the decision was returned shortly and should say, “Thanks for calling me again so shortly.” The returned name was anticipated. The remark about “shortly” signifies their expectations have been met or barely exceeded. And when you do that each time, the client will use the at all times once they speak about you and describe the expertise by saying, “They at all times name me again shortly.”
Let’s flip this round. I consider most prospects hope for an ideal expertise, however not essentially an over-the-top or above-and-beyond expertise. And based mostly on their typical expertise with service laggards, they, sadly, don’t have excessive expectations. So, everytime you meet or simply ever so barely exceed what your prospects hope for, you’ve created a optimistic expertise that will get them to say, “I’ll be again!”
Shep Hyken is a customer support/CX knowledgeable, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Instances bestselling writer. Study extra about Shep’s customer support and buyer expertise keynote speeches and his customer support coaching workshops at www.Hyken.com. Join with Shep on LinkedIn.
