You Bring the Magic!

By John Steiner

The saying goes that we are all experts in customer service — because we have all been customers. As a customer, you expect respect. You want your time valued, along with your money, and you expect to be treated with courtesy and professionalism. The big question is: If you were in the role of one of your own customers, would you be happy with the customer service you experience?

The key to magical customer service is to focus consistently on the most important thing that you could be doing at any given time. Are you doing the most valuable thing you could be doing at every moment of the day? Customer service challenges us to be proactive and stay sharp. Of course, this is not actually magic — it requires a very specific attitude. Nobel Laureate Henri Louis Bergson summarized it this way: "Think like a person of action. Act like a person of thought."

Success begins with product and customer knowledge. Let's assume that you have the technical knowledge to support your product. Have you stopped to consider the benefits that your product offers? Benefits are very different from features. Although you might set out to explain a dazzling array of features contained in your product, sooner or later every customer tunes into the same radio station: WIFM. Those call letters stand for "What's In It For Me?"

This attitude is not only normal, it's natural. After all, how do you think when you are a customer?

To arrive at this answer, we need to think beyond the immediate benefit and try to understand the greater value that our product provides to the customer. McDonald's restaurant, for example, does not simply sell hamburgers and sodas; they sell convenience. Canon does not just sell copiers; they sell efficiency. What value is your customer looking for beyond the immediate scope of the product? Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon once famously remarked, "We don't sell cosmetics, we sell hope!"

Once you know all the benefits of your product, then you need to communicate those benefits to other people. Busy executives sometimes refer to their "elevator speech." They deliberately plan a short recitation about their product or service that can be shared in the brief span of an elevator ride. One important point to remember is that people are not necessarily persuaded by facts alone. Tell a story! Professional speakers know that "facts tell, but stories sell." If time allows, you can make your message most vivid by engaging all five of the listener's senses. Perhaps the closing point might be your description of how they will feel once they have obtained your product.

Let's not forget that communication is a two-way street. I will often ask my corporate training audiences to name some ways in which we communicate. Invariably they will mention verbal skills, body language, tonality, and a host of other issues. Although these are all accurate answers, they only address 50 percent of the issue! The missing half, of course, is... listening. Meanwhile, when customers tell us they are unhappy, what do you suppose is their number one complaint? "Nobody ever listens to me!"

Listening is one of the most important ways of establishing trust between people. Talk about magic! Trust in the relationship is critical to great customer service. Customers want to feel that they can trust you to consider their interests. People judge what we say and what we do. Nothing will scare people away faster than a lack of credibility. Ben Franklin once said, "Reputations and fine china are easily broken and not well mended." Speaking as a customer yourself, wouldn't you agree?

Honesty is in everyone's interest. Once you are confident in your product, you have the peace of mind of knowing that you are helping people by providing a genuine benefit. Customer service is really a very simple trick. Our customers face challenges and we provide the solutions: like magic!

John Steiner is a corporate trainer and executive coach based in Los Angeles. He has helped many business people improve their efficiency and effectiveness; in some cases as much as 40 percent. He provides free initial consultations at 323.969.4614.