Why using common sense is bad for business
Hi! My name is Cate Schreck and I am the Director of Lightbulb Training Solutions (LTS).
Since 2010, LTS has been delivering onsite and online customer service and teamwork training to businesses across Victoria including Melbourne, Geelong, Gippsland, Bendigo, Benalla and everywhere in between.
I love what I do and I can absolutely “bang on” about how staff who provide consistently excellent customer service are the key to growing a business - a business that customers rave about for all the right reasons.
I’m so passionate about the topic I wrote a resource to help customer service staff enjoy all workplace interactions: the good, the great, the difficult and the demanding.
What I know for sure is that a business can have the most amazing products and services and they can have marketing and media that grabs customer attention, but if the business doesn’t have staff with excellent customer service skills, all the time, energy, effort and money spent on getting customers will be wasted.
The business will miss out on converting interested customers into buyers and they will also miss out on turning customers into part of their marketing department ie: delighted customers tell everyone they know about how great a business is via word of mouth and words on keyboard.
So why isn’t providing excellent service happening in all businesses? Many businesses owners/managers believe that providing excellent service isn’t difficult. Many business owner/managers think that telling staff to be professional and polite and reminding them to always smile etc, is enough.
In truth, what they are expecting is for frontline staff to use their common sense. Interestingly, most customers also think that providing excellent customer service only requires common sense.
Common sense isn’t enough, not nearly enough. To provide consistently excellent customer service, it’s like everything we do as part of our job, staff need goals, standards and skills.
No customer service goals or standards mean everything is acceptable. No customer service skill development means common sense will rule which will see some staff behave as follows:
Smiling is optional when they (the staff members) are having a tough day
It’s OK to rush a customer when they (the staff member) are busy.
It’s Ok to interrupt co-workers who are interacting with customers
Eye contact doesn’t matter when you greet customers face to face
Your tone of voice doesn’t matter when your interact with customers over the phone
During peak periods, it’s more important to be fast than friendly with customers
Rude customers don’t deserve professional responses.
It’s OK to swear at customers if they swear at you.
Excellent customer service doesn’t happen if common sense is the measurement of competency.
Want help with this? Contact us today and we’ll take your through a Customer Service Analysis (CSA). You will learn about the 3 key areas to focus on so you can create a culture of service excellence - the first step is free.
Cate Schreck - Service Excellence Coach and Author of The A - Z of Service Excellence.