The Art of Customer (Dis) Service...Part 1

In this age where ‘Customer is King/Queen,’ have you come across company employees who are downright rude or some front office executives who shout back at the customer?

The other day I witnessed this first hand at the classifieds office of a leading local daily. With only an hour to go before the deadline closed for the next day’s classifieds booking, there was a lot of jostling around the booking counter. To make matters worse, there was only one open counter.

When the elderly lady in front of me reached the booking counter, the employee ignored her and took a bunch of booking order sheets from a guy who had forced himself to the front of the booking counter from the opposite end of the queue. The employee didn’t seem to mind that he was not in the queue (my guess is that he was a regular customer and hence may have known the employee) and dutifully started processing his bookings. The elderly lady in front of me got angry and expressed her displeasure with the lady employee.

Instead of handling the situation politely, the employee back answered the customer in a rude manner. This erupted into a full scale fight between the two ladies. Things cooled down only when the rest of us intervened.

Any CEO or senior manager would be shocked at the prospect of a frontline employee shouting back at a customer. Yes, we know that front line executives and customer service employees are a harried lot and have to regularly deal with rude customers. But in this case the customer was not only wronged, but also shouted at by the employee. While this may be dismissed as a one-off case, I guess many of you would have come across insensitive customer service reps or front line staff who seem to have the customer’s interests at the very end of their priority list.

In another incident, some investors in Ahmedabad attacked the staff of a well known investment consultancy firm and even destroyed some of the furniture in the office. Apparently the angry customers had turned violent because they felt that they were “treated very badly by the consultancy staff and given rude answers whenever they approached them with their problems.”

In both these cases, I believe that the main issue is inadequate training to front line employees on “Customer Service Orientation.” The talent crunch (across all management levels) in India has resulted in many companies being staffed by ‘greenhorn’ employees. Given the high attrition levels and pressure to staff new positions, training has become more of a formality in many companies. Also, the attraction among job seekers toward “job-guarantee” courses or “crash-courses” makes quality training and learning through constant practice the first casualty.

Seven Colors for Trainers

It’s Holi, the festival of joy and colors. Colors signify some particular qualities or attributes. Colors are also known to impact our emotions and moods. We all have our favorite colors. So as a trainer how do I add color to my training sessions? Like De Bono’s colorful thinking hats, I thought we trainers should infuse some colors in our training programs depending on the situation and need.

These seven colors will help to make your training sessions more effective, lively and inspirational.

Pink – This is the most popular of all Holi colors. Pink gives a feeling of affection, nurturing, and bonding. A trainer has to be genuinely interested in helping the participants. This involves setting the right environment and making the training more personal by knowing the names and backgrounds of the participants. It’s important to address the WIIFM question (What’s in it for me?) in the first session itself. Learners will show more interest and active participation if they are clear on how they will be benefitted by the training session. In addition to the WIIFM question, the trainer has to create a sense of bonding among the participants through ice-breakers and exercises that make the individuals come together as a group.

Red - Energy and passion are paramount for any training session. Can we expect the participants to be energized, if the trainer doesn’t radiate any enthusiasm or passion? The trainer has to not only understand the energy levels of the group, but also the energy levels of himself / herself. Use energizers, go outdoors, have activities that make participants physically move around.

Blue – There is nothing better than infusing some soothing blue after all that physical / mental activity. Have some calming breath control exercises or reflection sessions to help the participants consolidate their thoughts and improve overall recall. Regular breaks and time-outs are also representative of this color.

Green – This color brings to mind attributes like freshness, being authentic/natural, the connections in nature, etc. It’s about ensuring that the trainer taps into the diverse experience and skill levels of the participants, in order to infuse freshness and creativity in the program. It’s about providing ample opportunity for the participants to connect with each other and bring out the best in the group.

Yellow- The color preferred by the intellectual type. It’s also a color that symbolizes optimism and self-confidence. This means that as trainers we need to avoid overloading participants with information and instead provide them with opportunities to learn by using their own intelligence. Provide only the necessary information and offer choices along the way so that the participants feel that they are in control of their learning.

Orange- A summer color…full of warmth, youthful energy and vibrancy. Use it to stimulate new ideas and improve spontaneity in the group. When things seem to be getting serious, a little dash of orange humor can help liven things up.

Purple- The color of a balanced personality…the wise, imaginative, and insightful person. To gain insights on the effectiveness of the program, it is important for you as a trainer to review the program events in your mind at the end of the day. Do keep a notebook to list down the observations / learning points / goof-ups that have occurred during the program. A trainer should also review the feedback given by the participants and work toward improvement of the content and process of the program. Attend sessions by other trainers, go to a new hobby class, and see how other trainers handle their sessions. Incorporate this learning in your future programs, wherever appropriate.

Wishing everyone a very happy, safe, and joyous Holi 2008.

Pic: Sourced from www.stock.xchng.com