My bank recently sent me a notification to let me know that
an account that I had with them was declared dormant as there had been no
activity on it for the past six months and that to reactivate it, I needed to
go into the bank and fill out a form and pay up the reactivation fees. I felt
irritation wash over me at this communication and called the help desk where I
spoke to a lady who was very quick to let me know that their customer service
manager would call me to give me answers.
Given the previous not too pleasant
experiences I had gone through with the bank, I politely indicated that I would
rather hold and be transferred to the manager as I suspect they may not call me
back as promised. After several tries she informed me that the manager would definitely
call me. True to form, I received a telephone call a few minutes later from a
gentleman who asks for ‘Harriet’. I duly inform him that I am not Harriet and
he hangs up surprised. After yet a few more minutes the same gentleman called me
and said he is calling from my bank in response to my complaint, upon which I
inform him that I am not Harriet and that it is real pity that they do not have
the courtesy to find out the proper names of their customers especially those
that have registered complaints before they call them up. To cut the long story
short, this gentleman went to great lengths to explain to me the security
reasons for which they declare accounts dormant, to which I replied I am very
happy to know that they take security very seriously and I commend them for
having stringent measures in place. However, my main concern is not that the
account has been declared dormant, but that nobody had told me about the six
months rule. And that if I was aware of it, I would have done something about
it. And that it is not in order for me to hear about an account being declared
dormant and my having to pay for reactivating it, once it is already done,
without my having consented to these terms and conditions. Needless to say my
bid to get answers was in vain and I was very politely requested to come into
the bank and fill out a reactivation form and that for the month they had
waived reactivation fees. My point had gone nowhere, had not been heard and had
not been gotten.
What is the moral of the story here? What key element is
missing in this communication? What needed to have been said and done to have
me the customer appeased? What would have made me less irritable and not
inclined to tell this story to a hundred other people, pitting my bank in a
very poor light?
The key that unlocks almost all customer complaints and can
turn a customer round from a complaining customer to a loyal ambassador is
effective listening. In this case, the customer service representatives were
extremely keen to notify me of their rules, regulations, security features and
all the reasons why the account was declared dormant and fulfilled the criteria
for a dormant account. What was missing was the ability to listen to what my
complaint was about. What was I aggrieved about, what was I complaining about.
They were so busy answering the unasked question. What was key to them was to
explain the reasons for dormancy whilst my biggest complaint was lack of
effective advance communication.
Now reverse the situation and imagine that the customer
service representatives listened to what the heart of my problem was and
responded that indeed they can imagine exactly what I must be feeling having an
email land in my inbox informing me of something I wasn't aware about and that
indeed this must be an error of omission they haven’t thought of previously to
alert customers on joining about the six month rule. They could further have
indicated that this is indeed food for thought and that they will most
definitely pass on this information to the relevant department and have this
communication included in all account opening transactions going forwards. They
could also possibly have thanked me for bringing this to their attention and
that they would endeavour to have no other customer go through a situation like
mine. Then continued to further explain that once an account is dormant one
really does need to come into the bank to sort out the matter and that they
would request me to let them know when I am coming in so that they can give me
their best assistance. How does that sound? The end result of this
communication is the exact same end result as the previous communication only
without the sour taste left in the customer’s mouth.
Richard Carlson in his
award winning book ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work’ talks about seriously
listening to customer feedback without being dismissive and defensive. And that
if one really listens to what their customer is saying with a receptive and
willing attitude, then one can only be successful in business. That we should
all be willing to admit that other people can very often see things that we may
be too involved in or too routine about that we may not appreciate may be seen
from another point of view.
So all that said, what does it take to effectively listen to
our customers? Various experts on listening advise on listening intuitively,
listening to the body language and unspoken words from the speaker as well as
listening to the tone of voice and mood of the speaker and gauging the deeper
meaning of the communication coming across. It is said as well that we should
listen with our senses. And that for example if one is speaking to us we should
imagine the story they are telling and really feel it, thing visually about the
picture being painted, hear the sounds of the story being told, actually smell
the items being described and reach out and almost physically touch and put
your finger to what is being said. If one commits to listening to their
customers in this way 90% of the battle is already won. Majority of the
customers who complain will feel so much better about being heard and may not
even follow through with the complaint. Just the fact that somebody somewhere
cares enough to really listen to their point of view, their frustrations and their
solutions is good enough.
I challenge you this week to really take time to listen.
Sharpen your listening skills by practising listening with your family, friends
and colleagues. This way, when that customer shows up who is extremely upset
and frustrated with your service failure, your listening skills will be at
level 10 on the rating scale and you will have opened that very often elusive
door to turn your disgruntled complainant into your brand ambassador. Go ahead,
give it a shot…..
No comments:
Post a Comment