We were in the supermarket aisle
last Wednesday picking up our usual 10 pack of white tissue rolls, when my son
pulled out a pack with pink rolls and asked ‘Mum, this pink tissue paper is for
girls?’ I had a rather challenging time explaining that pink tissues can be
used by everybody and are not the reserve of little girls. I then started to
wonder where this whole pink and blue typing came from and how pink became a
girl colour and blue a boy colour. And pretty much the entire world abides by
these rules from childhood unto adulthood, for to date it is claimed that men
that have been spotted sporting a corporate pink shirt, can only be described
as a brave and daring lot. A slightly bigger group have increased their bravery
and adventured into pink ties, but even as they wear them, they do so with a
streak of bravado. And indeed when we come across this lot, we immediately
chalk them down to being, bold, daring and dashing.
So, this provokes us to delve
into the role that stereotypes and stereotyping play in our world of service
delivery. Is this a good or a bad thing to do? Are the assumptions that we make
about people from different backgrounds, religions, cultures, countries and
socio –economic divides, helping or ruining our cause to up the service
delivery bar?
Where do we draw the line between
knowing our customers and ‘judging’ them? For it is not all West Africans that
are loud, not all vertically challenged people sensitive or dread lock haired
persons defiant right? When does one use their knowledge of a given group to
aid the cause of handling a customer as they assume would be best desired, or
cast these pre conceived ideals aside and put on a generalized good service
format?
It does help significantly to
understand a group’s dynamics and assume a stance that would make them more
comfortable and make their transactions more enjoyable. I've thought about a
strategy we used when I worked at a Hospital not too long ago. We felt that it
was generally safe to assume that fathers with ill children unaccompanied by
the child’s mother would be extremely troublesome, impatient and quick to react
to delays or interruptions to service. We chalked that down to their not being
in control, having a unwell child and generally operating out of their comfort
zone, while playing the role of the comforter, many of who took to this
circumstance like fish out of water. It was our general rule therefore to
already be aware of this underlying factor and handle these fathers with a
different set of gloves –pun-intended- to preempt explosive situations. But
then again, isn't that stereotyping at its peak? Who said that all unaccompanied
fathers fall in this category? There is in fact an increasing population of
fathers completely in touch with care giving especially with the rise in single
fathers raising children. These fathers would be completely offended to imagine
they’d been classified with those ‘other fathers’ and were receiving ‘special’
attention.
Here’s my take …..
In customer service the golden
rule is ‘know thy customer’. It is critically important for customer service
practitioners to intimately understand their customers, know who they are,
where they come from, what they like and do not like, their preferences, their
quirks, their history, background, eccentricities and where possible their
hopes and dreams. The better you understand your customer, the higher your
chances of consistently providing signature service. So when it comes to
stereotyping, more often than not the intervention put in place to more
delicately handle whichever stereotype is at play would call for more patience,
more understanding, keener listening, more sensitivity and generally more
tender love and care.
These aspects wouldn't hurt even if applied to persons
that go against the grain and are exceptions to the assumed stereotypical rule.
It would mean for example that the single father with an ill child in the hospital,
who is already adept at handling the situation, would get more perceptive
service. And as this doesn't hurt the situation, it would be more of a folly to
not apply extra care when dealing with a particular customer than to apply
extra care where it is not necessary.
So yes, let us be keenly aware of
stereotypes, use them to profile our customers to provide them customized
service, be extremely careful to not let our stereotyping biases confront
clients and then use this ammunition to go out and give the best, most
discerning service to those that walk in through the door or interact with our
businesses.
So next time you look at that dashing chap in a hot pink business
suit – think twice, no make that thrice and then go give him memorable service.
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