This article is part of an ongoing series on Delivering Great Customer Service.
Great customer service is rare, and too often, people are satisfied with giving the bare minimum. The key to meaningful customer service is to show the customer that we care about them as individuals.
The most important thing is not being the most knowledgeable or efficient (although those are important, and we get to them later). The magic of customer service happens when we treat every customer as the unique human being that they are.
When we’re answering dozens of phone calls every day, it takes a little extra effort to give each person this attention.
Teresa takes a technique from AdjusterPro’s co-founder, Dan Kerr.
Dan says to imagine that the person on the other end of the line is your parent, or friend, or sibling. Treat them as you would a friend. That person is someone’s friend, and as a fellow human, he or she deserves to be treated as we would treat our friends.
That might sound a little abstract. So what are some of Teresa’s practical tips for giving each customer individual attention? She likes to adapt standard email replies for the particular person. Using saved replies is a smart time-saver, but use the saved reply as a template, not as a finished product.
If the customer mentions something in their personal lives, acknowledge it. Offer condolences, encouragement, congratulations. No need to go off on a tangent, but let the other person know you are actually listening to them and empathizing with them.
If you’re an insurance adjuster, you’re likely helping someone who just had their property damaged. Maybe they lost something special to them. Let them know you feel their sense of loss.
