It’s the holy grail of customer service: the personal touch. Survey after survey has found what customers crave above all else is to be treated like an individual, not a number.
That’s true whether you work front-of-house roles in restaurants and hotels or in contact centres dealing with queries, orders and bookings.
If you’re the Maitre D’ of a top class restaurant, memorising the names, birthdays, family members and important events in the lives of regular customers will be second nature.
If you’re a hotel receptionist you’ll know everything that repeat guests like, from their favourite room to their morning paper.
Making folks feel welcome is your top priority and it’s what keeps them coming back time and again.
But what if you never get to meet your customers in person or if you’re dealing with so many that remembering individuals becomes impossible?
Some companies have tackled this successfully by training staff to work details from past transactions into their conversations.
“How have you enjoyed using that food processor you bought from us last October?” can open up a new line of conversation and make a customer feel valued.
Clever IT systems can prompt this kind of interaction by reminding you of previous transactions – but getting the most from it always depends on the agent involved being a good listener, attentive to details and caring enough about the company and its customer to do their best for both of them.
Do this properly and you’ll get great feedback, which is rewarding – nothing beats the feeling of knowing you’re doing a good job of keeping customers happy.
Even when things go wrong, you can step in and rescue the situation. Complaints are inevitable, but it’s how you deal with them that matters.
Resolve issues swiftly and with a level of compassion and you can turn a disgruntled customer into a happy one who will stay loyal.
With increasingly automated systems taking over the routine tasks of bookings and orders, often it’s only when things get complicated they’re passed to an expert to sort out.
This has prompted a demand for ‘super agents’, customer service staff with the highest level of personal skills.
These are the customer service professionals who have the patience to unravel complex problems and the persistence to stay with them until they are satisfactorily resolved.
If you’re this kind of problem-solver, with a calm demeanour and a naturally friendly personality, you’re tailor-made for this kind of role.
And the good news is there are numerous Customer Service employers waiting to snap you up right now through s1jobs.com