Last Saturday evening, a walking accident sent me to an ER. (I’ll pause here as you ponder ‘walking accident.’)
Despite the financial implications and the pain of a fractured bone in my wrist (we don’t use the word ‘broken’ in the hospital), my experience was made positive by well-trained staff operating from a shared mission. Everyone from the door greeter to the nurse with the needle to the guy operating the loud x-ray machine knew their job and aimed to please me, the customer who had a walking accident.
Emergency rooms are hard places. The variety of issues to be addressed is extraordinary. The demand for help is non-stop. The call for answers is constant.
In your work, you might not be guiding your customers through situations with dire consequences, yet how you choose to train your staff in customer service should embody an appropriate amount of life or death seriousness.
Consider the clerk at the rental car counter who says your reservation doesn’t exist. “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do to help you.” Or the appliance repair man on Christmas Eve, “Sorry! It’s a vacation for our team, too. See you in the new year.”
These are true stories that sucked the life right out of me.
Yes, life is complicated. Business is hard. So, get your people ready!
Equip them with shareworthy service training that offers life-giving choices to your customers and imagine what could have been…
The clerk releases a car from the coveted fleet reserves because she sees the exhaustion on your face. The appliance repair guy shows up on Christmas Eve with a bag of ice because he knows the part you need for your icemaker is back-ordered.
Since Saturday, I have had more than 20 opportunities to share about my experience in the local ER. Thanks to some wonderful men and women delivering shareworthy service, my words are life-giving to this organization. That rental car company? Not so much.
When it comes to your customer service training, which path are you choosing? Let us know if we can help you answer that question.
P.S.
Did you notice that we had a B-thing going on this week at Miles & Company — Boundaries, Beginnings, Blind Spots and Biscuits! All good stuff! To continue the coversation on these topics, please join us on Facebook!
