Your Source for Providing a Better Customer Service and Customer Support Experience

Shep Hyken believes in magic. In fact, if you’ve ever heard him speak (like at last month’s ParaFest) he even does a few magic tricks himself. (Anyone who was there know how he pulled off the numbers trick?) Shep spends a lot of time with companies helping them build loyal relationships with their customers, and writes a lot about how to create what he calls “moments of magic”.  To Shep, moments of magic are the really great experiences that keep customers coming back for more. Moments of magic are not “just okay” or “satisfactory” experiences. They’re the moments that make customers want to do business with you over your competitors.

Shep talked about ten ways to create moments of magic. (By the way, if you want to hear a classic story about how ‘Frank the cab driver’ delivered his own brand of moments of magic for his passenger Shep, check this out.  http://hyken.com/Movie.html) In the meantime, here are just a few of Shep’s methods for creating moments of magic for customers. While some at first glance may sound basic, they’re not always so easily practiced across a busy customer service call center.

• Manage the first impression. It’s easy to blow this one, says Shep, but it sets the tone for your whole interaction. Along these lines, he reminds us that at any given time, just one of us represents all of us across an entire organization. That’s a pretty powerful thought. A single interaction with a single customer service or help desk representative, good or bad, can represent the whole organization to the customer, and make or break the relationship. Shep tells a story about taking some kids to McDonald’s. When asked why they like McDonald’s so much, one girl remarked that she “likes the people.” The single order taker at this single McDonald’s represented the entire company to this little girl.
• Ask the extra question. Don’t just hear, but really listen to what your customers are saying. Often people say one thing, but they mean something else, so be on the lookout for what your customers are really asking beyond what they say. This is especially important when your customer interaction is on the phone, or via an online chat, where you can’t see body language and facial expressions.
• Prove you’re great at what you do. It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers, but prove you know where to get them. The answer not in your online knowledgebase? Go the extra mile to find the person with the know-how to point you in the right direction. Your knowledge and expertise are golden.
• “UPOD”: Under promise, over deliver. Set an expectation, then deliver more to your customer.
• Build rapport. Communicate on a level past business. Sounds simple, but people want to do business with people they know, like and trust.
• It’s easy to create moments of magic when things are going well, but when they’re not (what Shep calls “moments of misery”), it’s how you solve them that matters.

Especially in tough economic times, moments of magic in customer service are important differentiators.

To learn more about Shep Hyken and his ‘moments of magic’ visit http://www.hyken.com/index.html