Judging Customer Service: How Was It?
There are plenty of judgments going around. People often decide what they will like or what the reaction will be before it even happens. Are people judging customer service?
It might start with the advertisement, the packaging, and the photograph. What is the presentation, does it make sense and will it work? Is it the right fit and does it capture all of the customer needs?
Good Intentions
A funny thing happens with product and services marketing, sometimes customers have a different impression from the intent. In other cases, they become attracted and mistakenly buy a competitors product. It might be ordering a Whopper at McDonald’s, right time, wrong place.
Fresh water anglers might know the elusive muskellunge as the fish of a thousand casts. One angler casts for hours with no fish. The next boat that passes might make it happen in just one throw. Right time, luck, chance, or experience, perhaps more than one applies.
Sometimes all of our intentions are right, but the outcome still might go wrong. People like to be right.
Emotionally Connected
Your packaging, your website, and your social proof might all be part of what generates sales today. The product or service you provide might be judged by thousands of people before a purchase is made. Yelp reviews and Angie’s List, they all matter.
The truth is that in many cases the customer decides right before they click the button, pull out their wallet, or slide their credit card. Most buying decisions involve emotions. Who really needs an expensive car, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, or shoes with red soles? Emotionally connected people, they believe that they do.
Judging Customer Service
Many people live by a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once the judgment has happened and the purchase has been made, the customer doesn’t want to be wrong. The truth is they always want to be right.
Their interests are to experience the expensive car, ride the Harley Davidson, or wear the red-soled shoes. They are connected.
Quality, expectations, and delivery, they all matter. Life doesn’t always feel fair, like it or not your customer service has already been judged.
Accurately or not, on purpose or by mistake, it often takes place right before the decision to buy is made.
Are people judging customer service?
Will you live up to their expectations—should you?
– DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
