The Simple Truths of a Complex Customer Experience

Customer service; it's external, internal, and based on personal perception and expectation. It's consistently changing experiences and interactions that are influenced by age, culture, current environment, and mood. Simply put: customer service is complex.

So how do you design effective procedures for your employees and develop a solid training program that satisfies such a wide variety of people and ever-changing factors? Though challenging, customer service training is vitally important for the success, sustainability, and profitability of your business unit, product, or service and it should be regarded as a top priority. In this blog we'll discuss the challenges of training for such seemingly unpredictable circumstances and why a company should focus on this crucial area of "soft-skills" development.

While attempting to find an engaging image for this post, I had an eye-opening discovery on the perceptions of customer service. I Googled the key words "royalty-free customer service images" and the first 100-200 images generated by my search were of a single person having a phone conversation on a wireless headpiece. While they appeared to be very friendly, smiley people, it occurred to me that a very important element was missing in the picture; the customer. 

This sample of pictures didn't properly illustrate that customer service involves an interaction between two or more people. The images would have left you thinking that good customer service simply requires a good looking twenty-something and hands-free technology; a laughable proposition. If it were that simple I would venture to say that the world of commerce would be overflowing with exceptional customer service and that the unemployment rate of our twenty-somethings would be nonexistent. So what is missing from this picture? There are companies that are known for their service. What sets them apart from the rest?

Let's start by reflecting on our own customer service experiences. Don't be surprised if some of the worst ones come to mind first. This is pretty normal. Often we are most affected by those negative experiences which seem to conflict strongly with our own expectations and these memories can be stronger. The good experiences don't upset our emotions as much as the bad ones do, and our complacency and satisfaction can actually make these positive experiences more difficult to recall. 

Think about certain businesses you frequent or a certain department within your company that you enjoy working closely with on projects. Perhaps it's the mechanic you bring your car to whenever there's an issue, the local bakery that you frequent to grab a pastry and a coffee, or the barber/beautician who is the only person you would trust with your unruly do. What is it about that particular product or service that keeps you coming back? Chances are it's multiple things and when all is said and done, it's the fact that you leave that experience feeling respected, satisfied, and quite possibly in a better mood than you were in before you went in. 

In order for someone to label their entire interaction or transaction excellent it should be positive from beginning to end; including the greeting, service throughout, closing of the sale, and any necessary follow-up.This is why it is important for any customer service training program to have a comprehensive training model. A successful customer service procedure cannot simply focus on a single aspect of the process. A talented training developer and facilitator focuses on providing a program that prepares the trainee for a comprehensive experience. 

Training for the bigger picture means that the approach must go deeper than providing canned responses. Trainees need to understand the mission and values of their employer, be knowledgeable about their product and/or service, and aware of the expectations that their audience (the customer) has for them. The purpose of customer service training is to provide the trainee with a good idea of what "full" service is and should be. The challenge is that "full" service is an evolving principle. The diagram below gives a good illustration of how drastically customer service communication has changed in a relatively short period of time.

Borrowed from: http://finntrack.co.uk/learners/marketing_strategy.html

This image helps us to consider customer service expectations from a generational perspective. You have one segment of the population that still remembers a world in which anything you bought or sold was done locally. Transactions were personal and face-to-face. This was even true in the workplace, where if you didn't understand a concept or a task you asked a supervisor or individual with more experience than yourself for insight and advice. 

Now a large segment of the population is more familiar and comfortable with ordering what they need online, turning to chat services when confronted with an issue, and may very well reference Google or Wikipedia before asking advice from another person in the office. Commerce today is set up in such a way that our younger generation can research, buy, return (if needed), and review a product or service without interacting directly with another person at any point throughout the process. 

Customer service interactions in the digital age can be drastically different, but the importance of a quality personal interaction is not extinct by any means. We are an inherently social species that will always desire to be received in a friendly manner and valued as a customer. All of the social media and time-saving tools in the world will not change this simple, yet fundamental fact.

Furthermore, quality customer service training is not exclusive to the hospitality industry. In fact, it's not even exclusive to an external focus. Quality service is just as important internally. A company that pretends to be one thing to it's customers, but does not practice the same values within is not fooling anyone. It truly is as simple as the saying, "Practice what you preach." 

This is why an expert training professional who can design and develop a custom training solution is worth their weight in gold. A seasoned professional can assess a current culture, their goals, and their audience and develop a program that will benefit multiple divisions. Setting service expectations is a major shift that requires deliberate and careful planning.

Our team is currently working with a client on a major visitor experience initiative. The challenges are diverse; the client is striving to engage multiple generations and cultures, overcome some public misconceptions, and continue to keep pace with their own extraordinary growth. While fast-paced growth can create some challenge, it is also a great source of motivation. We are already beginning to see the fruits of our efforts presenting themselves in the internal interest and excitement for the new training program. The team is encouraged by their growth and excited about cultivating even greater success.

Do you see service related challenges in your own personal or professional environment? If you do, our team of expert trainers would love to hear about your experience and provide you with some useful tools and insights in our April edition of the Insider. 

As an added bonus, the first four readers to either share a customer service experience or ask our training experts a question on the topic in the comments below will not only receive helpful feedback, but a Starbucks gift card as well! Share with us how the evolution of customer service into the digital age or generational variations in service expectations have affected your work or consumer experience. Our team is in the business of exceptional service and we want to hear from our readers about how we can help.

Do you have a question or concern and don't want to leave a comment? We'd love to hear from you! Just email or call (949.336.6444).

The Expert Brainstorm with Diane Spiegel

This month Diane Spiegel explains her philosophy about the important role generational differences play in training and development.


Why do you feel it is so important for leaders to create an age-friendly work environment?

The short answer is that we need each other in so many ways! Traditionalists and Baby Boomers, the most mature in the workforce, have knowledge, patience, and the wisdom that often comes with years of experience. The youngest workers, Gen Y/Millennials, have a new perspective that is tuned into efficiencies and how to do things faster and easier. As digital natives, they can tech-multi-task and obtain information in seconds. The Gen Xers have brought the concept of work-life balance that many are not willing to negotiate. Gen Xers are also in their prime child bearing and rearing years and do not want to miss out on their kids' events, like so many of their parents did as they were very busy working. So, we all need what the others bring and those organizations that provide opportunities for generational and knowledge sharing in an atmosphere of support and trust will successfully emerge as the impact of the multi-generations is felt in companies all over the world.

With so many generations working side by side in today’s workplace, what are some of the most notable generational differences between Traditionalists (1900-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Gen Xers (1965-1980), and Gen Y/Millennials (1981-1999)?

The most notable is the concept of work ethic. Traditionalists are noted for their commitment to getting the work done with no whining! They were thankful to have jobs and felt that all work had honor and dignity when the job was done well. Gen Y/Millennials have taken a lot of criticism about work ethic as it appears to some that they don’t have it. They do have it, but their first line of thought is how can they efficiently and quickly get the work done using all of their great social media and Internet connections. They look for ways to streamline. Gen Xers were the first to come up with the term “work-life balance” and the GenY/Millennials have followed in their path. Both of these generations have the ability and skills to multi-task and they work and play in a woven format. Traditionalists, and to some extent Baby Boomers, viewed work as something that occurred from 8-5 and work was work and leisure time was just that. Our work has shown that Gen Y/Millennials as well as Gen Xers toggle back and forth between work and non-work activities. This shifting represents a new paradigm that the two dimensions (work and leisure) can co-exist if you have the tools and skills to integrate your day.

Based on your philosophy of first understanding generational differences and then using this understanding to engage employees in productive conversations, what are the first steps a management team can take to begin this process of understanding?

I believe it’s very important to first understand why each generation is shaped as it is and how these common experiences have impacted attributes and characteristics. Generational differences in the workplace are not a new topic. Karl Mannheim, considered to be the grandfather of generational research, defined a generation as a group of individuals of similar ages whose members have experiences and noteworthy events within a set period of time. In 1950, Karl Mannheim’s sociological theory said that when a group of people shares a common birth period they are cemented by significant events and social changes during that period. The events become a part of an individual’s identity and influence that person’s views on the world but also impact the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of all persons born in that time period to create a collective generational perspective.

When time is invested in understanding the differences, and people are provided the opportunity to discuss, share, and collaborate on ways in which the best of what each one brings to the workplace can be leveraged, everyone wins.

GenY/Millennials are sometimes labeled as having an entitlement mindset. While there are some obvious drawbacks about an entitlement attitude, are there potentially some positive qualities that accompany this mindset? 

Gen Y/Millennials do not see themselves as entitled, they just know what they know! Because of this, they often bring a confidence to their work that has taken other generations many years to embrace. Their mostly Baby Boomer parents have viewed the relationship with their offspring in a very different manner. Traditionalists raised their Boomer kids with the idea that “children are seen and not heard." Boomers shifted that mindset and put “Baby on Board” stickers on their cars indicating how precious and important was their cargo. Gen Y/Millennials have grown up believing they can because their parents, teachers, coaches, and counselors reflected the idea that you can be who you want to be, that what you have to say matters, and that you are special and important.

In your current engagement of designing a custom leadership program for an EB client, what has been the contributing factor(s) to the success of this project? 

From the beginning we have had the buy-in from the top of the organization, as they are clear that leadership development is key to future success. As a traditional organization, with a lot of tribal knowledge invested in their Baby Boomer population, they are aware of the potential brain drain that can occur, and as they invest in all levels of leadership, they are preparing the organization for a successful succession.

The department director has allowed the design team to be creative, out-of-the-box, and very innovative! No idea is a bad idea has been our motto. The results have been excellent! Participants have responded positively to a more experiential learning approach, where they are doing and interacting more of the time than in the traditional lecture approach. We are also using a variety of methods for engagement such as the virtual team. This team comes with an array of employees who represent some of the challenges that managers are faced with and they discuss in a safe environment how they would handle difficult conversations and what coaching and mentoring might look and sound like as they practice. To keep things exciting, some of these virtual team members come to life as the Learning & OD team takes on role play and becomes these employees, allowing participants to experience what a conversation might be like with a live actor.

What is your life’s motto? 

Listen when others speak. Seems simple, right? We do this all the time, or do we? Do we really HEAR what others say? Are we really paying attention or thinking ahead about our own list of things to do? All of us want to be heard and to know that what we say matters. In our super busy world we are often emotionally dismissed and left with that “whatever” feeling; it’s all transactional and makes no difference.

I try, though it can be tough, to listen when others talk. What are they saying? What are they not saying? What do they really have in mind? Do they just want to share, or do they need input, or most importantly, validation? Listen in. REALLY listen. You’ll be amazed at what you learn!

Any words of wisdom that our readers can put into practice today?

"We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Anais Nin

It’s challenging to see things as others see them, but when we try to stand in the other people's shoes and look out from their vantage point, we gain an understanding of their perspective. It’s so easy to become wrapped up in our own ways and thoughts that we don’t allow enough mental space to see what others see.

Escoe Bliss is fortunate to count Diane Spiegel among our team of expert consultants! Be on the look out later this year as her new book will be available for purchase! The Gen Y Handbook: Applying Relationship Leadership to Engage Millennials will provide readers with a solid prospective of the Gen Y mindset and show how to successfully engage this generation of employees to produce and achieve. In the meantime, Ms. Spiegel will continue providing custom training and development solutions. For more information on Sage Leadership Tools and multi-generational leadership development for your business contact Escoe Bliss at 949.336.6444.