The customer is always right, so the saying goes. This received wisdom is often touted by customer service experts but dig beneath the service and there is a story to tell. Here is a customer service insight that we found explains some issues that we can all at times be wrestling with.
Customer Service Insights: Could your customer service be affected by the expectations of your employees?
Picture this. You are calling a customer service line and for some reason, after being in a queue for some time, you then are dealing with someone who sounds as if they are not being as co-operative as you expect. In a few moments the call gets difficult and your passions are raised. You start speaking to the customer service agent in a way that might in other circumstances be considered perhaps rude, challenging or aggressive. Have you ever had such an experience?
There could be many reasons for this escalation. It might be to do with how you come across, your frustration with the queue, your own expectations of what might happen.
Similarly there are expectations on the other side too. It would be easy to say that a lack of skills in the agent were the issue and some remedial training will sort it out, perhaps with some coaching follow up. That might help of course, but maybe there is more to this than meets the eye.
Here is a great customer service insight from some research by the University of British Columbia in Canada that sheds a fascinating light on this area. It found that many customer service agents reported that they were dealing with rude or difficult customers. One of the main findings was that employee expectations were playing a significant part in how customer service interactions worked out. The research found that “Employees who had the strongest uncivil response to rude customers tended to expect positive service interactions. On the other hand, employees expecting unpleasant conversations were less likely to mirror customer rudeness with their own rude behaviour.”
So your customer service could be affected by the expectations of your employees. But there is more to it than this. Personality was also a factor: pessimistic employees who expected a positive customer reaction actually were often found to be the rude to a rude customer.
There is an interesting question as to what causes these interactions to spiral out of control. This is the subject of more research. So expect more customer service insights to follow.
If you need any help with your customer service team development then contact us at: enquiries@trainingtoachieveenterprises.com or call 0845 165 6269 and book today!
Alison Miles-Jenkins
Training To Achieve Enterprises
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