The art of working with the public involves many small details of tact, but adds behaviors that make the consumer feel important.
- Every well-placed and well-framed advertisement can’t offset 1 rude clerk.
- Over-invest in how everyone interacts with the public.
In general, the art of customer service is behaving like a nice person, even when other people are not behaving nicely.
- Working with customers is a generally unpleasant experience, proportionally to how little you know how to navigate interactions with complete strangers.
- There’s a way to be polite with customers while also setting boundaries, but it requires using a higher-context approach than they do.
Greeting
After ringing a doorbell, take a few steps backward to give distance.
Always greet them with a smile.
- Even over the phone, a smile will transfer intuitively through how your voice sounds.
- Alternately, in a high-speed professional position, greet them with an expression of minor overwhelm, followed by a pleasant disposition with them.
Conflicts
Most conflict management skills that assert a win/win are not useful in most customer service capacities.
- While you often might have some authority as a manager, you’re also facing competing interests with the organization that employs you.
Avoid words that may provoke adverse feelings, such as “canceled”, “declined”, “failed”, and “broken”.
Disengaging
At the end of a phone call, ask, “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
Recording
Whenever possible, stay legally safe by keeping a record of what was said, promised, and performed.